Alibaba integrates Qwen AI into Apple Intelligence for China
09:56, 01/11/2026, SundayU: Update: 10:40, 01/11/2026, Sunday
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Alibaba Group announced on Saturday it has partnered with Apple to integrate its Qwen AI model into Apple Intelligence for users in China, with beta testing scheduled to begin November 4 and full availability expected alongside the iOS 27.3 release in December.
Strategic Partnership
Alibaba Group has partnered with Apple to integrate its Qwen AI model into Apple Intelligence for the Chinese market, the Chinese tech giant announced on Saturday. Beta testing is scheduled to begin November 4, with a full rollout expected alongside the iOS 27.3 release in December, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.
The integration will embed Qwen's capabilities into core Apple features including Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence. Compatible iPhone devices will support the functionality provided their location settings and Apple Account region are both configured to China.
Privacy Safeguards
Users will retain control over whether to enable the AI integration and what information to share, with Alibaba noting that user requests and generated responses will not be utilized for training its AI models. The company emphasized that privacy safeguards remain central to the deployment.
Industry Significance
Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said the collaboration would deliver new AI-powered services to Chinese users. Wang Xiaojie, an AI expert at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said this marked the first time a major global consumer hardware manufacturer had adopted a Chinese large language model as its primary system-level AI backbone in the Chinese market.