Apple Intelligence registered in China for iPad and Mac, with Alibaba's Qwen powering features

Apple's generative AI service, Apple Intelligence, has been registered for use on tablets and laptops in China, Shanghai's cyberspace regulator said on Monday (November 9), extending its registered scope beyond iPhones. China requires generative AI services to be registered with regulators before they can be offered to the public; Apple completed the filing for iPhones in July. (Image: file photo of an iPad and a MacBook.)

Alibaba's Qwen supplies the underlying model

According to Reuters, the version for China will be powered by Alibaba's Qwen model, covering text and image understanding and content generation, including Writing Tools, Siri and visual intelligence. Apple was reported in August to be working with Alibaba to train a China-specific large model. Apple announced on its China newsroom on October 31 that the first Apple Intelligence features for supported iPhones entered developer testing on November 4, with a public rollout planned for December through iOS 27.3.

No date yet for iPad and Mac

Registration is not the same as launch. Apple has not given a date for the iPad and Mac versions in China, nor a full feature list. Analysts expect the wider filing to pave the way for Apple Intelligence across Apple's full device range in China, but integration with local partners and regulatory steps must still be completed before a public release.