Qwen joins Apple Intelligence as on-device AI competition shifts to system-level entry points

How will Qwen’s integration into Apple Intelligence change the user experience?

Apple and Alibaba announced a partnership under which users in China will be able to access Qwen’s text and image understanding and content generation capabilities through Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, without switching between apps.
The features are scheduled to open for testing with the latest iOS developer beta on 4 November and to launch for users in China when iOS 27.3 is officially released in December.

Apple Intelligence had not previously launched in mainland China because of regulatory approvals. The report says approval of its filing opens a critical pathway for on-device AI to be deployed at scale locally.
The report says the Qwen app has approximately 167 million monthly active users, fewer than Doubao’s 382 million. With its integration into Apple Intelligence, Apple users in China become a potential audience for Qwen, potentially giving it a new channel to reach users.

Sinolink Securities believes competition in AI phones is shifting from stand-alone features to a unified operating-system-level entry point. A platform’s long-term competitiveness will depend on whether its assistant can combine system interaction with the ability to perform tasks across apps and deliver services in different scenarios.
The firm also notes that mature, widespread deployment of AI phones is a prerequisite for the on-device AI industry to take off. Applications already exist in devices: Bestechnic’s BES2700 and BES2800 series chips have been incorporated into devices including AI glasses and AI meeting assistants and have entered mass production.