Apple Integrates Alibaba's Qwen AI Into Mac Siri in China

Apple has begun offering Mac users in mainland China the ability to connect Alibaba's Qwen artificial intelligence service to Siri and its Writing Tools feature, according to a newly published support guide from the company.

The integration represents Apple's strategy to deliver advanced AI capabilities in China through a partnership with a domestic technology provider, addressing both regulatory requirements and competitive pressure in the world's largest PC market.

How the integration works

Users running macOS 26.6 or later in mainland China can opt in to use Qwen through Siri for enhanced responses to requests, including analysis of photos and documents. Apple's Writing Tools can also leverage the service to generate text or images from user descriptions.

The setup requires users to manually activate the extension and sign in with a Qwen account. According to Apple's guide, Alibaba cannot use materials processed through the integration to train or improve its AI models—a privacy protection that mirrors Apple's broader approach to AI partnerships.

Qwen is Alibaba's family of generative AI models capable of creating text and images while analyzing documents, photos, and other content in response to prompts. Alibaba this week released Qwen3.8-Max, a 2.4-trillion-parameter model the company describes as its most capable to date, though Apple's documentation does not specify which Qwen model powers the Mac extension.

Why it matters

Apple's Mac shipments in mainland China dropped 9 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to approximately 800,000 units, leaving it with just 9 percent of the PC market. Lenovo commands 31 percent share, while Huawei has rapidly grown to 16 percent, according to Omdia data.

Both Chinese competitors have made locally developed AI features central to their strategies. Lenovo has positioned its Tianxi personal AI agent as the cornerstone of its AI PC approach, while Huawei is embedding AI functions throughout its HarmonyOS ecosystem.

By linking Qwen to Siri and Writing Tools, Apple gains a regulatory-compliant path to offer sophisticated document analysis, image processing, and content creation while maintaining control of the Mac user interface. For Alibaba, the partnership extends Qwen's reach beyond its own applications and cloud services into Apple's installed base.

Alibaba has stated that Qwen will be incorporated into Apple Intelligence across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro devices in China, though Apple's current published guidance covers Mac computers only.

The details were first reported by Reuters correspondent Eduardo Baptista.