Apple Intelligence isn’t available in China yet
Despite Apple stating that Apple Intelligence would be coming to China in April 2025, a new report predicts it won’t come until June at the earliest.
As part of its launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple announced that Apple Intelligence would be released in multiple new languages in April.
Then Tim Cook subsequently said that iOS 18.4 “brought Apple intelligence to more languages, including… simplified Chinese.”
Language support is not the same as country support. Apple Intelligence has not been enabled in China during the four beta versions of iOS 18.5 that have been released so far.
Now Bloomberg is speculating that this means the release has been delayed to iOS 18.6. The speculation comes in Bloomberg‘s “Power On” newsletter, which itself was unusually delayed to Monday, May 5.
The newsletter further presumes that China is now unlikely to get Apple Intelligence until iOS 18.6. That probably also means it won’t launch in China until after WWDC in June.
Getting Apple Intelligence for China has involved more complex issues than local language support. While Apple could in theory have worked through China’s regulatory requirements by itself, it would have taken years and not be certain of success.
Instead, to get Apple Intelligence into China, Apple had to partner logistically and legally with Alibaba. Even then, the regulatory hurdles appear to have been delaying the release.
As part of those regulations, and that partnership, the version of Apple Intelligence that will launch in China will be censored.
