Apple has rolled out Apple Intelligence features to the majority of markets around the world. The lone holdout? China. Apple’s suite of AI tools has yet to launch in the country. It turns out that it isn’t because of a lack of trying. A new report from the Financial Times reveals that Apple Intelligence is facing delays in China due to the ongoing US-China trade war.
Trade war delays Apple Intelligence in China
The report cites two people familiar with the matter who claim that Apple and Alibaba have submitted their request to China’s Cyberspace Administration of China for approval. However, their applications have stalled. This is due to “increasing geopolitical uncertainties between China and the US.”
This means that this has less to do with whether or not Apple is complying with local laws. It has more to do with the political tensions between the US and China. This also means that until this is resolved, Apple users in China will have to wait a bit longer before they can get their hands on Apple Intelligence.
That being said, given the state of Apple Intelligence, they’re not missing out on much.
Apple and Alibaba’s partnership
Unlike other countries where Apple Intelligence is available, Apple had to make some concessions to launch it in China. For starters, it had to partner with a local tech company. In this case, Apple’s partner in China is Alibaba.
This is due to China’s policies that try to limit the amount of data to be sent out of the country. We had previously heard that Apple could be working with DeepSeek, but a subsequent report revealed that Apple is working with Alibaba instead.
That being said, Apple Intelligence delays in China is just a small part of the geopolitical drama that’s going on. The Trump administration has imposed relatively high tariffs on incoming goods from China. This forced China to respond in kind. Plus, President Trump is putting pressure on Apple to manufacture its iPhones in the US.
Apple has stated several times that this isn’t operationally feasible, and Trump has responded by hinting that the Cupertino company could be hit with higher tariffs as a result. There’s no timeline on when Apple Intelligence will launch in China. However, with other local AI players like DeepSeek, Alibaba, and Tencent, Apple users in the region have plenty of alternatives.
