Report: Apple planning to launch Apple Intelligence in China before end of 2025

Since China, the largest smartphone market in the world. But, from the very start, they have faced pressure from both China and the United States. Now they might finally be close to launching.

Apple’s past struggles

One of the primary issues Apple is facing is that any company looking to launch generative AI product in the country must have approval from a local regulator. In order to get this approval, Apple is announced earlier this year by Alibaba Group chairman Joe Tsai.

Following that partnership, Apple had hoped to launch reportedly as a result of the US-China trade war. In the United States, the government has also been concerned about potential national security implications of this deal:

Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, called the deal “extremely disturbing”. He warns that Apple could be enabling a company closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party’s, much like the fears over TikTok that got it banned-but-not-quite in the U.S.

“The United States is in an AI race with China, and we just don’t want American companies helping Chinese companies run faster,” added Greg Allen, the director of the Wadhwani A.I. Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

A new hope?

Despite these challenges and setbacks, Apple has continued to move forward and is hard at work on launching Power On newsletter by Mark Gurman, Apple is planning to finally launch the features in China by the end of this year:

While it’s certainly plausible that a release could get delayed again, the plan right now is to launch the functionality before the end of the year — with the software included in iOS 26.1 or iOS 26.2. The company is actively testing the features with employees in China, I’m told, and continues to work with Alibaba and other providers on the rollout. 

The timing of this release is critical, as Apple is about to launch its new iPhone models.

Final thoughts

Regulatory struggles with China as a part of why iPhone sales were down.

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