China Approves 'Apple Intelligence' Powered by Alibaba Models Ahead of iPhone Launch

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has updated its network access registries to approve the operation of "Apple Intelligence" and Alibaba's language models "Tongyi Qianwen" and "Tongyi Wanxiang" on "iPhone Do" and "iPhone 18 Pro" phones, among other devices, according to the South China Morning Post as reported by Engadget.

The approvals come shortly before the launch of the "iPhone Do" in the Chinese market, which Engadget says will take place the following week, making the decision coincide with preparations for the devices' rollout.

The "Tongyi Qianwen" models are expected to power "Apple Intelligence" features on compatible "iPhone", "iPad", "Mac", and "Vision Pro" devices sold in China.

The regulatory pathway demonstrates that making AI features available in any market requires prior local approvals, and that each market has standards independent of others, even for the same device.

What do these terms mean?

"Apple Intelligence": A suite of artificial intelligence features integrated by Apple into its devices to enhance photos, writing, search, and the voice assistant.

Large Language Model: An AI program that reads and generates text after being trained on vast amounts of data.

Network Access Registry: A regulatory list that defines what a device or service is permitted to access on the internet within the country.

Pre-launch Approval: A regulatory authorization required before selling a device or activating a service in a specific market.