Two years later, Apple Intelligence makes its way to China

Chinese iPhone users will finally get to use Apple Intelligence in the near future, with it rolling out in the country in open beta from November 4.

Apple Intelligence has been available in many territories after its 2024 introduction, but China wasn't on the list. After two years, the AI-based features are finally going to be available to use on user devices.

Apple confirmed on October 31 that the first core features of Apple Intelligence will be available as an open beta in China from November 4.

Those initial features will include tools for Photos, including Clean Up to eliminate unwanted items from images, as well as memory videos and natural language search. There will also be Visual Intelligence using the iPhone camera and smart emoji generation.

Writing tools are also being included, complete with options to proofread, rewrite, and summarize text, along with notification summaries and email summaries. Smart Reply will quickly suggest responses to messages, while Notes gains audio transcription and calls can get transcribed and summarized.

The update stops short of adding Siri AI, which only became available to users in other countries in 2026.

Getting Apple Intelligence to the iPhone has been difficult for Apple, due to Chinese regulations. It had to seek out various local partners who had approved models it could use for the same services.

In its announcement, Apple says it uses generative models built by Apple, and is also working with Alibaba to add Qianwen support within Siri.

The developer beta will start from November 4, and will launch in China with iOS 27.3 in December.