China clears Alibaba’s Qwen AI just in time for iPhone Duo

In what may be a hugely significant move, China has approved the use of Alibaba AI models for Apple’s iPhone Duo and other iPhones. It’s a significant step forward for the company in China, where demand for its smartphone remains incredibly strong.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has approved integration of AI from Alibaba in several iPhones, including all the models currently supporting Apple Intelligence. That approval extends to Apple Intelligence, as well as Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen) and Tongyi Wanxiang models.

This should mean Apple will be able to offer Chinese iPhone users similar image generation and AI chatbot capabilities as it provides to customers elsewhere, bar Europe. 

Cook’s China tour

This news breaks around the same time Tim Cook, Apple’s former CEO and now executive chairman, visits China. He met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Beijing on Monday following a weekend of stops across the country and meetings in Europe before that, including a brush with UK royalty. 

Cook won’t be on the move without reason, and it’s easy to speculate that the new Alibaba AI approval in China was part of his tour itinerary. If that’s the case, then it also seems possible he’s there to put the finishing touches to whatever deal the company has had to come to in order to inject Alibaba’s Qwen AI into iPhones. 

Countdown to Duo

The company hasn’t yet discussed its plans to bring AI to the Chinese market, but the past week also saw Apple COO Sabih Khan visit the Foxconn Technology Park on October 11. The activity comes as Apple prepares to open up for iPhone Duo pre-orders across 70 nations, including China, on October 16 to ship October 23. 

While the Chinese approval is big news, the situation is well-known. Apple worked with Alibaba to develop AI models for use in China, and in August briefly posted and subsequently removed details explaining how Mac users in China could set up their computers to work with Qwen AI. Apple achieved regulatory clearance to offer Apple Intelligence in China in July but hasn’t yet done so. It clearly prefers to offer a wider-ranging solution, though some core features are now available in Hong Kong.

We later learned that Apple has developed a proprietary AI model for China with support from Alibaba. It had to do this because US AI models are not available in China. All of this has been some time coming: Apple and Alibaba submitted co-developed AI features for approval to China’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, in the past year. 

With or without AI

It may be important to point out that the lack of built-in AI in Chinese iPhones doesn’t seem to have dented enthusiasm for the product one iota. Despite recent rumor of production order cuts, JP Morgan says there’s nothing to be concerned about and that iPhone 18 Pro models are seeing higher demand in China than the iPhone 17 Pro models did last year. Counterpoint Research tells us Apple took 33% of China’s smartphone market in the week of September 14-20. 

Other local reports claim Apple shifted 1.3 million of the new devices in China in the first week — and that’s without the full AI experience we’re usually told matters so much to consumers. We certainly know AI matters to US AI companies, while Huawei is aggressively promoting its own AI devices in China.

In China, foldables are a big attraction

Interest in foldable smartphones is particularly high in China, which has already become the largest and most competitive market for these kinds of devices. China makes up more than a third of global folding smartphone sales and it is also interesting to observe that Huawei and other Chinese competitors recorded a spike in demand for their foldable devices after Apple announced iPhone Duo. 

With the imminent introduction of its first foldable device, it’s hard to see how any move to introduce Alibaba-supported AI support in China would hurt the company; it may even help stimulate sales in one of the few big global economies that isn’t currently on life support. And that’s got to be good for (Apple’s) business. 

I don’t know what time scale Apple is working on, but it typically publishes a software update just before it ships a new product, so there’s certainly time for an AI surprise for China. We don’t yet know when it will happen. We just know it’s happening.

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