Big shift.
Back in June, Apple dropped news of major changes to Apple Intelligence, but they attached a massive asterisk. Most features wouldn’t work in China. Or Europe.
Well.
The situation in China just flipped.
Reuters reports that the registration with China’s cyberspace authority is complete. It happened.
These AI capabilities are baked into the current betas for iOS 17 (and yes, the article meant iOS 17, despite the typo “27” in the source text—Apple hasn’t skipped seven generations) and other platforms. September seems like the target window for the public rollout, aligning with the OS update.
No exact date given. Yet.
But there’s the catch. Apple isn’t building this alone over there.
Alibaba has announced its Qwen AI model will power parts of Apple Intelligence across iPhones, iPads, Macs. Even Vision Pro. Baidu is in too, working directly with Apple on features tailored for Chinese users.
A different beast, really.
What about the EU?
Radio silence.
In fact, it’s worse.
Apple already admitted those new Siri features are delayed there indefinitely for iOS and iPadOS. Blame the Digital Markets Act. As of June, the company didn’t even have a timeline to offer up. Just a “no.”
China moves forward, slowly, with local partners. Europe sits back, waiting for regulations to clear.
Two markets. Two completely different futures for the same AI.
Not that the ending feels clean anyway.
