The iOS 18.6, iPadOS 18.6 and macOS 15.6 updates should bring Apple Intelligence to iPhone, iPad and Mac owners in China for the first time since iOS 18.1 brought the first batch of AI features to Apple’s customers in the United States last October.
On June 16, 2025, Apple released the first developer betas of iOS 18.6, iPadOS 18.6, and macOS 15.6, marking the last major updates in the iOS 18 cycle before iOS 26 and other new operating systems are released in the fall.
iOS 18.6 will bring localized Apple Intelligence features to iPhone, iPad and Mac fans in China following a delayed start casued by local regulations requiring partnering with a local AI provider. Apple is expected to replace OpenAI’s ChatGPT with AI models from Alibaba to power the Apple Intelligence features in China.
Apple is testing iOS 18.6 with possible Apple Intelligence support for China
If you have a compatible device and are a member of the Apple Developer Program, you can download an over-the-air iOS 18.6 beta in Settings > General > Software Update > Beta Updates, then choose the iOS 18.6 beta. Apple did not provide changelogs for iOS 18.6, iPadOS 18.6 and macOS 15.6 so we don’t know what’s new.
However, Mark Gurman reported on Bloomberg in May that Apple might bring Apple Intelligence to China in two waves, one with the iOS 18.6 bringing the initial set of AI features and the other with smaller AI improvements in iOS 26 this fall.
Apple Intelligence’s arrival in China now looks to be happening in iOS 18.6. For several months, the company has been working on ways to bring Apple Intelligence to China, which is no easy thing. Given the laws in the region, Apple has had to partner with a local provider that could serve as a de facto censorship engine — with the ability to modify Apple’s AI models on local devices at the behest of the Chinese government.
The Cupertino tech giant will use Alibaba’s latest Qwen AI models for the launch of Apple Intelligence in China, which are optimized not only for Apple’s MLX framework for machine learning, but censorship, too.
According to a recent report by South China Morning Post, the partnership with Alibaba will help Apple create an on-device system that will analyze and modify Apple’s AI models by filtering and censoring the output to ensure compliance with the Chinese government’s requirements.
“Sources say that the Chinese government will be able to request changes to AI models through Alibaba when it needs to change the information delivered to users,” reads the report.
When will Apple release iOS 18.6?
The official release of iOS 18.6 could happen in late July. The update also brings the usual security patches and bug fixes that resolve known issues. It’s unclear if the update includes the rumored AI-powered battery optimization features. Apple is expected to extend the iPhone’s battery life through Apple Intelligence, but this feature is unavailable in iOS 18.6 and iOS 26.
Apple Intelligence is available on the iPhone 15 Pro models and newer, including the 2025 iPhone 16 family and all Apple silicon-powered iPad and Mac models.
Apple Intelligence could gain more AI providers
Alibaba models should power all of the Apple Intelligence features (including censorship in the country) that are currently relayed to OpenAI, like text generation in the system-wide Writing Tools, image generation in Image Playground, answering complex queries through the Siri interface and image analysis in visual intelligence.
The AI rollout in China will arrive just as Apple got a break in the 1.44 billion people country, its second-largest market by revenue, where it’s had a period of soft sales, with iPhone sales climbing by a Counterpoint Research-estimated fifteen percent in April and May compared with the same period the previous year.
Apple could also let users in the United States and elsewhere choose between multiple AI providers for Apple Intelligence instead of ChatGPT; Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently suggested Google Gemini could be integrated across Siri and Writing Tools as an option. Google also offers a native Gemini app for the iPhone and iPad.