Apple Says Chinese Mainland iPhone AI Rollout Not Official

Apple today briefly launched – but quickly withdrew – its Apple Intelligence feature for some users in the Chinese mainland due to a software glitch, according to National Business Daily, citing the company, after online reports fueled speculation that the long-delayed localized rollout had begun.

One day before Apple's 50th anniversary, some mainland iPhone users today noticed a new option labeled "Apple Intelligence and Siri" appearing in their settings menu. However, the entry disappeared within a short period of time, and users who had already downloaded the model found their access revoked.

Apple said today that the software glitch has been fixed quickly and clarified that it has not formally launched its Apple Intelligence service in the Chinese mainland, adding that the rollout would depend on regulatory approval and that it is actively working to bring the service to China.

In the early hours of the day, several netizens posted that Apple Intelligence could be activated on mainland versions of the iPhone. Tech bloggers said that on some iPhone 15 Pro and later models updated to iOS 26.4, the original "Siri" interface appeared to upgrade to "Apple Intelligence and Siri," allowing users to enable the long-delayed mainland edition of the service.

An Apple support specialist told a reporter from Xinhuanghe that Apple Intelligence has not yet been officially introduced in the Chinese mainland. The representative added that there are no details available regarding its underlying large language model or technical framework.

However, screenshots circulated by users who claimed to have accessed the feature showed that when asked which model it uses, the system responded that it is based on the ERNIE large model family developed by Baidu.

According to posts reviewed by the reporter, the beta version labeled for the Chinese mainland supports functions such as real-time translation, visual intelligence, photo clean-up, collaborative writing tools, AI-generated emoji and an image playground feature. On mainland iPhone 16 and later models with the feature activated, users can reportedly access visual recognition AI directly through the camera control button.

The reports also drew international attention. Mark Gurman, managing editor at Bloomberg, reposted coverage of the incident on X and suggested the apparent rollout may have been accidental. He cited several reasons: Apple would be unlikely to introduce AI in one of its most important markets without a formal announcement; it would not typically launch such a major feature in the middle of the night local time; and the system appeared to rely on Google reverse image search, even though Google services are blocked in China.

His post has garnered more than 320,000 views. Apple has not provided a timeline for an official launch of Apple Intelligence in the Chinese mainland.