China Approves Alibaba AI Models for Apple Handsets Including the iPhone Duo
China has approved Alibaba's artificial intelligence models for use in several Apple handsets, including the new iPhone Duo, clearing a regulatory hurdle for Apple Intelligence in the mainland. Updated network access permits for the iPhone Duo, the iPhone 18 Pro and several earlier Apple models now list three approved AI systems alongside the devices they run on.
Those systems are Apple Intelligence and Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen, also known as Qwen, together with Tongyi Wanxiang. Qwen is the large language model family developed by Alibaba Cloud, while Tongyi Wanxiang handles text to image and video generation. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post, which reported the filings, and the permits are granted device by device, which is why the same filing that clears the Duo also covers the iPhone 18 Pro and older models that will receive the feature through software.
And the permissions add detail about a device that has not yet gone on sale in China. The listing confirms the iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable phone, will carry an approved AI stack when it reaches the mainland market, where regulators require security evaluations and algorithm filings before any public AI deployment.
Apple has yet to switch on Apple Intelligence in mainland China, even though Beijing cleared the licence earlier. The CAC confirmed the licence for the service on iPhones only, and Alibaba said at the time that Qwen would be integrated into Apple Intelligence experiences across iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS for users in China, enabling text and image generation. Neither Alibaba nor Apple responded to requests for comment on the filing, leaving the commercial terms of the arrangement unstated.
The delay has been conspicuous. Apple Intelligence reached the United States in 2024 and Europe the following year, and core features such as writing tools and image editing are already available in Hong Kong. On the mainland, the gating has run through a security review that Apple has no way to accelerate on its own, and the company has not said publicly which parts of the suite would arrive first.
But the structure of the deal reflects that constraint. Where Apple leans on partnerships with Google and OpenAI to support the feature in international markets, oversight in Beijing has pushed it toward local partners, and Alibaba is the one with an approved model family.
Tim Cook, then Apple's chief executive, described the earlier clearance as the first concrete step toward a targeted suite of Apple Intelligence capabilities for the mainland, naming a photo editing tool that erases unwanted objects from images. The new filing suggests the suite that eventually ships will be broader than that one item.
So the approval matters less as a feature announcement than as a signal about timing. Apple has been leaning on AI features to defend its position in the world's largest smartphone market, where domestic rivals have moved faster, and a foldable with an approved assistant is a more direct answer than a software update alone. The filing does not say when the service will go live on the mainland, and no timing has been published by either company.
China has approved Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen and Tongyi Wanxiang models for use in Apple handsets sold in the mainland
Updated network access permits cover the iPhone Duo, the iPhone 18 Pro and several earlier Apple models
Apple Intelligence itself also appears on the approved list, though Apple has not yet switched the service on in mainland China
Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post, which reported the regulatory filing
Alibaba and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment
Source: South China Morning Post
