Apple iPhone Duo has completed the large language model filing, with Apple Intelligence, Tongyi Qianwen and others making an appearance.

According to the access permit information for telecommunication equipment released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on October 14, the Chinese mainland version of Apple's iPhone Duo foldable phone (model A3721) completed the permit renewal on September 29 this year after obtaining the trial approval permit on September 2, adding the filing number of the large model it carries.

The filing numbers of the large models equipped on this device are: Shanghai-AppleZhiNeng-202506160057, Shanghai-TongYiWanXiang-202410090024, ZheJiang-TongYiQianWen-20230901, corresponding to Apple Intelligence, Tongyi Wanxiang, and Tongyi Qianwen respectively.

Further inquiries found that the latest telecommunication network access permit for the Chinese mainland version of the iPhone 18 Pro series (model A3718) was also renewed on September 29, 2026, adding the filing number of the equipped large model. The involved models include iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max and subsequent models.

Back in June 2024, Apple officially launched the Apple Intelligence system at the WWDC2024 Global Developers Conference. This system integrates generative AI functions, can be applied across platforms to products such as iPhone, iPad and Mac, and has reached a cooperation with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into the system platform. The first batch of functions was launched in some overseas markets via iOS 18.1 in October of the same year, but the Chinese mainland version has been absent all the time.

After that, the market spread the news that Apple had contacted many domestic AI model manufacturers to find local partners for Apple Intelligence that meet Chinese regulatory requirements. In February 2025, at the 2025 World Government Summit in Dubai, Joseph Tsai, co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alibaba, confirmed the rumor of AI cooperation between Alibaba and Apple, that iPhones sold by Apple in China will adopt Alibaba's artificial intelligence technology.

At this year's WWDC2026 Global Developers Conference, Apple released the new generation of Apple Intelligence and Siri AI. In terms of functions, Apple Intelligence supports text proofreading, image generation, natural language search and cross-app operations. For example, photo editing can automatically add hidden watermarks; Safari can organize tabs and monitor web page updates, such as product restocking or price reduction; the Messages and Mail apps provide smart replies and collaborative suggestions; the Phone app can automatically display relevant merchant confirmation information, for example, when a user calls an airline to change a flight, "Phone" can automatically find the confirmation code in the "Mail" app; Calendar and Shortcuts support automatically generating events or steps through descriptions. At the same time, the functions of automatic proofreading and Apple Watch health data integration have also been enhanced.

However, Apple clearly announced that in Chinese mainland, Siri AI and other new Apple Intelligence functions need to promote related work in compliance with regulatory requirements, so they cannot be provided temporarily. Siri AI was also clearly not available to the EU region in the initial stage.

On July 8, the generative AI large model of "Apple Intelligence" under Apple Technology Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. officially completed the filing of generative artificial intelligence services, with the applicable scenario being Apple mobile phones. On July 15, the Cyberspace Administration of China released an announcement through the official WeChat account "Cyberspace Administration of China", confirming that 7 mobile terminal-oriented generative artificial intelligence services including "Apple Intelligence" have completed the filing. The same batch of approved services also includes end-side AI services of brands such as Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Samsung and ZTE.

In response to the completion of the filing of Apple Intelligence, Alibaba told Jiemian News that Alibaba's Qianwen will be integrated into Apple Intelligence as AI capabilities, bringing intelligent experiences to Chinese users of iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS. Users can directly experience Qianwen's capabilities such as text and image understanding and content generation on Apple devices without switching between apps.

After that, a support document titled "Using Qianwen with Apple Intelligence on Mac" appeared in the simplified Chinese user manual for Mac on Apple's official website, which clearly mentioned that Apple Intelligence can work with Alibaba's Qianwen model. However, on August 9, this operation manual was deleted from Apple's official website, and the relevant page has now been restored to the previous version of "Using ChatGPT with Apple Intelligence".

On the morning of August 9, a relevant staff member of Apple's customer service said: "When we have a function release or a new project release, Apple will let us know in advance, but at present Apple has not notified us of this content, which means that this function has not been implemented for the time being, so its implementation will still take some time."

With the filing of large model numbers for multiple mobile phones including the iPhone Duo foldable screen this time, industry analysis believes that the pace of Apple Intelligence's implementation in China is accelerating.

It is worth noting that Tim Cook, who has stepped down as Apple CEO, recently visited China again, starting his first trip to China after serving as Apple's Executive Chairman of the Board.

On October 10, he first arrived in Guangzhou to visit creators who use iPhone to shoot works, and then exchanged with application developers. Later on the 11th, he also went to the Apple Sanlitun store in Beijing to interact with consumers.

In an interview with media including Jiemian News, Cook regarded AI as a new opportunity for the expansion of the application ecosystem. He believes that "vibe coding" is lowering the development threshold, making it easier for people with good ideas to create their own applications, attracting more people to join the developer community and bringing more applications.

He emphasized that the support provided by Apple covers development, operation and distribution. Developers can use Apple's development tools to create applications, run AI functions through Apple chips, and then reach global users with the help of the App Store.

As Apple's first foldable phone product, iPhone Duo will open for pre-order on October 16 and go on sale officially on October 23. It offers 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB storage capacities, and two color options: Starlight White and Night Sky Black. The prices of different capacity versions in the Chinese mainland are 15999 yuan, 17999 yuan, 21499 yuan and 26499 yuan respectively.

On the eve of the iPhone Duo pre-order, Apple executives visited China again to inspect the supply chain. On October 11, Sabih Khan, Apple's Chief Operating Officer (COO), came to the Foxconn Technology Park in Zhengzhou, Henan, to visit the key processes of the iPhone Duo production line, the iPhone 18 Pro rear camera module production line, the appearance middle frame anodizing workshop and the SoC chip-level surface sputtering intelligent manufacturing workshop. When asked about the production capacity preparation of iPhone Duo, Sabih Khan said that the team has been advancing manufacturing development for this innovative product, and is now expanding the production scale in accordance with Apple's consistent high-quality standards.

This article is from Jiemian News, written by Chen Xiaotong, and published by 36Kr with authorization.