Apple Taps Alibaba's Qwen to Bring AI Features to China

Apple has formed a partnership with Chinese tech company Alibaba to bring a tailored artificial intelligence (AI) service to Chinese users. This collaboration entails incorporating Alibaba's large language model, Qwen, into Apple's AI system, Apple Intelligence. The integration will offer services tailored to the Chinese market.

Alibaba revealed the partnership on October 31 via social media. Users in China will gain access to Qwen through key iPhone features such as voice assistant Siri, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence. These features will enable users to analyze text and images, generate content, and use the service within the operating system without opening separate apps.

Both Apple and Alibaba emphasized privacy protections for the AI service, with users able to opt-in for Qwen integration and Alibaba pledging not to use users' queries or AI-generated responses for model training. The China-specific version of Apple Intelligence will emphasize everyday convenience features, including real-time translation in Messages and Phone apps, cross-language communication in FaceTime, and image search with natural language in the Photos app.

The update will be available for Apple Intelligence-compatible devices purchased in China, with devices outside China potentially qualifying if their Apple account country or region is set to China. The partnership aligns with Apple's strategy to comply with China's regulatory requirements for generative AI services, following its approval by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) in July 2026.