By Raffaele Huang and Tracy Qu
Apple's artificial-intelligence system has secured government approval in China, clearing a major roadblock for the iPhone maker to introduce the service in the world's largest smartphone market.
China's top cyberspace regulator said Wednesday that the American company has successfully registered its Apple Intelligence service. Companies need government approval before releasing most generative AI services to the public in China.
Apple first submitted some Apple Intelligence features for regulatory review in China in early 2025, after spending nearly a year co-developing the features with local technology titans Alibaba and Baidu. The iPhone maker had initially hoped the new AI capabilities would help it regain market share in the country.
The absence of Apple Intelligence on iPhones in China had threatened to stall the upgrade cycles of the handset at a time when Apple faced stiff competition from local rivals such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo, which have rapidly rolled out AI features on their devices.
