Apple today took the unusual step of confirming when its next iOS developer beta is expected to arrive, as part of an announcement detailing the upcoming launch of Apple Intelligence in China. Here are the details.
In mid-July, Reuters reported that, following a lengthy back-and-forth with Chinese regulators and multiple delays, Apple Intelligence had finally cleared a major regulatory hurdle ahead of its long-awaited launch in the country.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that Apple was planning to launch Apple Intelligence in China in December as part of iOS 27.3, although without Siri AI and other newer features.
The following day, China’s state-backed media outlet The Paper reported that Tim Cook had confirmed regulatory approval for the platform, with a test version expected before the end of October.
Then, just last Monday, Apple released iOS 27.2 and its counterparts, expanding Siri AI support to French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. On the same day, the company announced that four more languages, including Traditional Chinese, would be supported by the end of the year.
However, while that announcement confirmed additional language support for Siri AI, it offered no updates on the rollout of Apple Intelligence in China, where Siri AI itself will remain unavailable for the time being.
While Apple typically releases the first beta of its next software update shortly after the previous version becomes available, iOS 27.3 has yet to materialize.
Now, as spotted by MacRumors, a press release published on Apple’s Chinese Newsroom website confirms that testing of Apple Intelligence in China will begin on November 4, as part of the next iOS developer beta.
Importantly, Apple has only confirmed November 4 as the start of Apple Intelligence testing in China, not necessarily the release date of iOS 27.3 beta 1 itself.
In the press release, Apple confirms that users in China will get an improved Siri experience, including Type to Siri and the ability to access Alibaba’s Qwen for certain requests, but not Siri AI itself.
Other features included in the initial rollout are Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime, and Phone, Writing Tools, Genmoji, Clean Up in Photos, natural-language photo searches, priority notifications, notification summaries, and Smart Reply, among others.
Apple also noted that the initial rollout will be exclusive to the iPhone, with support for other platforms coming only after the necessary regulatory approvals have been obtained.
The features will be available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Air, and iPhone Duo, with both Siri and the device language required to be set to either English or Simplified Chinese.
The company also confirmed that the features will become publicly available in December, with the official release of iOS 27.3.
To check out Apple’s press release, follow this link.
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Marcus Mendes is a Brazilian tech podcaster and journalist who has been closely following Apple since the mid-2000s.
He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.
