Apple Intelligence coming to mainland China in December with iOS 27.3, without Siri AI

Apple is preparing to bring Apple Intelligence to mainland China in December as part of an iOS 27.3 update, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, after a lengthy regulatory delay that kept the company’s AI features out of the market.

The debut will include the original Apple Intelligence suite that launched elsewhere about two years ago on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It will exclude the rebuilt Siri AI assistant and other features Apple announced in 2026, people familiar with the plans told Bloomberg, as reported by 9to5Mac, MacRumors, and The Verge.

What is expected to ship

Per Bloomberg reporting summarized by 9to5Mac, the initial China rollout is expected to include:

• Genmoji for creating custom emoji
• AI-powered notification summaries
• Writing Tools
• Clean Up in Photos, which lets users remove unwanted objects from images

MacRumors, also citing Bloomberg, says Image Playground and a newer Genmoji version will be missing, and that text-generation tools will be limited in some apps. Bloomberg similarly says Apple’s in-house image-generation tools will not be part of the China launch, with some text-generation features limited.

iOS 27.3 is expected in December.

Partners and permits

China restricts foreign AI technology, so Apple partnered with local firms to clear the launch. Bloomberg says Apple developed guardrails with Alibaba, including a filter that allows the government to approve ongoing updates to the AI models. Apple is also working with Baidu on features related to search and Siri, according to the same report.

On September 29, Apple received Chinese permits allowing recent iPhones to support Apple Intelligence and Alibaba AI models, including Tongyi Wanxiang and Qwen, Bloomberg reported as quoted by 9to5Mac. The South China Morning Post separately said China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently granted network access permits to add Alibaba’s Qwen and Tongyi Wanxiang models on recent iPhones, after preliminary clearance earlier in July.

Competitive context

Local rivals including Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo already ship AI features on their phones. Bloomberg notes it is unclear how much Apple will benefit from launching a roughly two-year-old set of relatively basic AI features in China.

Separately, around Apple’s recent Welcome Home announcements, the company said in footnotes that it is still working with the EU on a path for Siri AI in Europe, where the rebuilt assistant also remains unavailable for regulatory reasons.

Sources

• 9to5Mac, Marcus Mendes, "Apple Intelligence reportedly coming to China in December, but without Siri AI," October 14, 2026 (quoting Bloomberg / Mark Gurman)
• MacRumors, Juli Clover, "Apple Intelligence Coming to China in December With iOS 27.3," October 14, 2026
• The Verge, Jay Peters, October 14, 2026
• TipRanks / The Fly, secondary summary of Bloomberg, October 14, 2026