Apple Lets Chinese Mac Users Tap Alibaba’s Qwen AI Through Siri
Apple published a Chinese-language guide letting eligible Mac users in mainland China connect Alibaba's Qwen AI to Siri and Writing Tools, its first user-facing step in a market where it has struggled to compete on AI.
Apple this week published an official guide explaining how eligible Mac users in mainland China can link Alibaba’s Qwen AI service to Siri and Writing Tools, marking the company’s first user-facing step in bringing AI features to Chinese customers after months of regulatory delay.
The move, confirmed through Apple’s own support documentation and reported by Reuters, arrives as Apple works to close a widening AI gap with domestic rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi in China.
Notably, this is one of Apple’s largest and fastest-growing markets, where the company generated $20.5 billion in sales last quarter alone.
A Mac-First Rollout With a Clear Regulatory Backstory
Apple’s newly published guide describes Qwen not as a standalone app sitting alongside Siri AI, but as the external reasoning engine behind it in China, handling complex question answering and content generation instead of Apple Intelligence.
That framing matters given how the arrangement came about: Apple Intelligence only received regulatory clearance in China this past July, after the Cyberspace Administration added Apple’s AI service to its approved provider list.
This requirement every company must clear before offering large language model or generative AI services publicly in the country.
Reuters reported that the Mac-specific rollout is aimed squarely at helping Apple compete in China’s AI PC market, where domestic manufacturers like Lenovo have already built market share around locally developed AI features Apple couldn’t offer until now.
Qwen Won Out Over DeepSeek as Apple’s Primary Partner
Earlier reports noted that Apple had considered integrating with DeepSeek before ultimately settling on Alibaba’s Qwen as its primary AI partner in China.
This decision carries real weight given how differently the two Chinese AI labs are positioned internationally, though both have been accused of U.S. AI model distillation.
TechCrunch confirmed that Baidu is separately working with Apple on developing Apple Intelligence features for Chinese users.
This suggests the Qwen integration may be the first of several regional AI partnerships, a multi-vendor approach that Apple has already been aiming for in the upcoming iOS 27.
A Cautious Platform-by-Platform Bet
What stands out is that Apple launched on its Mac lineup before iPhone, despite the iPhone having a far larger user base and facing direct pressure from AI-equipped rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi.
That choice likely reflects lower stakes for a misstep; Mac carries less regulatory and reputational weight than iPhone in a market Apple can’t afford to get wrong.
This lets Apple test data-handling safeguards and user reception before extending Alibaba’s Qwen to its flagship product.
How quickly this expands to iPhone and iPad will be the real signal of whether Apple’s China AI strategy is working, since a Mac-only feature does little to address the AI-phone comparisons Chinese consumers are actually making in stores today.
Source: Apple says Mac users in China can connect to Alibaba’s Qwen AI service
