Apple to start Apple Intelligence testing in China on November 4
Apple says the China rollout will include Qwen integration in Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, with public availability in December via iOS 27.3.
Apple confirmed that testing of Apple Intelligence in China will begin on November 4, as part of the next iOS developer beta, according to 9to5mac.com. The company said the features will become publicly available in December with the official release of iOS 27.3.
The November 4 date marks the start of testing in the next iOS developer beta, not necessarily the release date of iOS 27.3 beta 1, Apple said.
Users in China will get an improved Siri experience that includes Type to Siri and access to Alibaba's Qwen for certain requests, though not Siri AI itself. The Qwen integration will also extend to Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, with access through a user account sign-in or Sign in with Apple.
The initial rollout includes Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime and Phone, Writing Tools, Genmoji, Clean Up in Photos, natural-language photo searches, priority notifications, notification summaries and Smart Reply. It will be exclusive to the iPhone pending regulatory approvals for other platforms.
Supported devices
Supported hardware is the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Air and iPhone Duo, with Siri and the device language set to English or Simplified Chinese.
In mid-July 2026, Reuters reported that Apple Intelligence had cleared a major regulatory hurdle for its launch in China after delays. A couple of weeks before this article, Bloomberg reported that Apple planned to launch the features in China in December as part of iOS 27.3, without Siri AI and other newer features. On Monday, October 26, 2026, Apple released iOS 27.2, expanding Siri AI support to French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.
Quick answers
When does Apple Intelligence testing start in China?
Apple said testing begins on November 4 as part of the next iOS developer beta.
When will Apple Intelligence be available to users in China?
The features become publicly available in December with the official release of iOS 27.3.
Which iPhones support Apple Intelligence in China?
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Air and iPhone Duo, with Siri and the device language set to English or Simplified Chinese.