{"slug": "apple-intelligence-approved-for-launch-in-china-with-alibabas-qwen-ai", "title": "Apple Intelligence approved for launch in China with Alibaba’s Qwen AI", "summary": "Apple Intelligence has received regulatory approval from China's Cyberspace Administration for launch in the country, following a deal to integrate Alibaba's Qwen AI model into Apple's operating systems. The partnership, which resolves earlier delays caused by challenges with other AI providers, positions Apple to strengthen its presence in the key Chinese market where sales rose 28% to $20.5 billion in Q2.", "body_md": "Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker’s generative AI offering, is coming to China. On Wednesday, Reuters [reported ](https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-intelligence-ai-service-registered-with-chinas-cyberspace-regulator-2026-07-15/)that China’s regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, approved Apple’s AI services in the country, on the back of a deal to integrate Alibaba’s Qwen AI model into Apple’s operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS.\n\nThe deal, which was [rumored to be in the works](https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/11/apple-reportedly-partners-with-alibaba-after-rejecting-deepseek-for-china-ai-launch/) last year, marks an important step for Apple’s AI ambitions in a key market. In the second quarter, Apple sales in Greater China [increased 28%](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/30/apple-aapl-q2-2026-earnings-report.html) to $20.5 billion. Apple also recently [regained the No. 2 position](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/apple-offered-big-iphone-discounts-193116913.html) in China’s smartphone market after a recent shopping festival offered discounts on the iPhone lineup.\n\nPrior to working with Alibaba, Apple was reportedly exploring a deal with Baidu, but faced issues adapting its models for Chinese customers. It also explored integrations with DeepSeek and with models from ByteDance, reports claimed. This led to delays in getting Apple Intelligence features, which debuted in 2024, to the Chinese market.\n\nAlibaba [confirmed](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/15/alibaba-qwen-ai-apple-intelligence.html) the company’s news to CNBC in a statement, saying that Qwen would be “integrated into Apple Intelligence experiences,” but did not provide a timeframe. It also said the integrations would involve AI capabilities like “text and image understanding and generation.”\n\nU.S. shares of Alibaba rose 4% in pre-market trading on news of the deal, and are now up by over 6%, as of the time of publication.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-intelligence-approved-for-launch-in-china-with-alibabas-qwen-ai", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/15/apple-intelligence-approved-for-launch-in-china-with-alibabas-qwen-ai/", "published_at": "2026-07-15 15:29:33+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-15 15:44:19.971919+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["generative-ai", "ai-policy", "ai-products", "large-language-models"], "entities": ["Apple", "Alibaba", "Qwen", "Cyberspace Administration of China", "Baidu", "DeepSeek", "ByteDance"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-intelligence-approved-for-launch-in-china-with-alibabas-qwen-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-intelligence-approved-for-launch-in-china-with-alibabas-qwen-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-intelligence-approved-for-launch-in-china-with-alibabas-qwen-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-intelligence-approved-for-launch-in-china-with-alibabas-qwen-ai.jsonld"}}