Hands-on with iPhone China AI Developer Beta: Siri Integrates Qwen, Writing and Visual Intelligence Go Live

Late-night hands-on with iPhone China AI: the highlights and the lowlights are all here

Ifanr Download the app for exclusive early access November 04, 2026 06:51:40 From Beijing Updated November 04, 2026 07:45:41

Just now, Apple's China AI officially opened developer Beta testing to users in mainland China, and is planned to launch officially with iOS 27.3 in December.

According to information published by Apple, the first batch of supported models includes iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, the iPhone 16 series and later supported models, as well as iPhone Air and iPhone Duo.

Then go to "Settings" > "General" > "Software Update" > "Beta Updates," select iOS Developer Beta, and download and install the iOS 27.3 beta.

Given the stability of developer betas, it is recommended to back up data in advance and try it on a spare phone if possible.

It is worth noting that this update does not yet include the next-generation Siri AI features Apple announced at WWDC 2026; stronger personal context understanding and autonomous cross-app execution still require waiting.

· Writing Tools

Apple has integrated AI writing capabilities into the system's text processing interface. After users select text, they can directly invoke proofreading, rewriting, summarization and other functions, and can also adjust the content to a friendly, formal or concise tone, or organize it into key points, lists and tables.

For example, when faced with an industry report of several thousand words, users can directly generate a summary, and can also organize lengthy meeting notes into clear key points and tables, reducing the time spent manually sorting information.

More noteworthy is that Apple has also added "Qianwen Creation," allowing users to generate articles, emails and other content, and even images, based on natural language requests.

For example, when preparing to tell a boss that the workload is too heavy, the original words might be "The targets this month are too high, it's really impossible to finish them; either give me more people or cut the tasks." Through "Qianwen Creation," users can directly ask AI to rewrite it into a highly emotionally intelligent work report while retaining the core request.

From the proofreading, summarization and formatting of native writing tools to the free creation capabilities provided by Qianwen, Apple has put both into the same system-level writing entry point.

· Visual Intelligence

Visual Intelligence lets users learn about the things in front of them through the iPhone camera.

Users can long-press the iPhone's camera button to bring up the Visual Intelligence interface, with three options at the bottom: "Ask," "Translate" and "Search," corresponding to different usage scenarios.

Among them, "Ask" on the left is supported by Qianwen's visual understanding capabilities, can recognize objects captured by the camera, and answer questions based on the content of the image. For example, point the camera at an English menu and ask, "Which dishes are suitable for people who don't eat seafood," and AI can give suggestions based on the menu content.

The "Translate" option in the middle can directly recognize and translate foreign-language text in the lens, suitable for reading overseas menus, street signs and product descriptions.

However, if your phone has third-party apps with visual search integrated, such as Dewu, then you can also get Dewu search results, and users can directly choose according to their actual needs in front of them.

· Photo Eraser

According to information previously published by Apple, the Photos app this time mainly gains three AI features: the eraser tool, natural language search and memory movie generation.

During our experience with the eraser tool, we also found that the Photos app occasionally crashes. Considering that this is still a developer Beta version, the stability of related features still needs improvement.

In this developer Beta experience, I have currently only found the eraser tool, and have not yet found the entry points for natural language search and memory movie generation. Friends who are able to successfully try them are also welcome to share their actual impressions in the comments.

In addition, it should be mentioned that this test used an iPhone 16 Pro. Even when experienced in a normal room-temperature environment, the phone still heats up noticeably, especially during continuous use of AI features.

· Genmoji

Genmoji allows users to generate exclusive emoji through text descriptions.

For example, enter "a panda wearing glowing sunglasses and drinking an iced Americano," or "a computer monitor crying bitterly because its requirements were revised ten times," and the system will generate the corresponding emoji.

· Notes and Call Summaries

For example, I asked AI to process a simulated call recording about a weekend dinner. Two people originally planned to eat hot pot, then considered Sichuan cuisine, and finally, because a friend does not eat spicy food, decided to go to a Cantonese restaurant downstairs from the office, and also discussed dishes such as steamed sea bass and roast goose.

· Siri Upgrade

Among all the features, Siri's changes may attract the most attention.

In this update, Siri supports text input, understands mid-sentence changes of mind, and can maintain context in continuous conversations.

For example, if a user says, "Set an alarm for 7 a.m. for me—never mind, change it to 8:30, with the note 'topic selection meeting,'" Siri can understand the operation the user ultimately wants.

More importantly, Apple has also officially introduced Qianwen into part of the Siri experience.

Users can ask Siri complex knowledge questions, and can also ask questions about materials such as photos, PDFs and presentations. For example, when I ask Siri how much a plane ticket from Guangzhou to Shanghai costs, Siri will give an answer from Qianwen, and can also jump to the Qianwen app with one tap.

APPSO's hands-on testing found that simple questions can be answered directly by Siri, while complex needs such as shopping, sending express deliveries and travel planning can jump to the Qianwen App and call the Taobao, SF Express, Hello and other services connected to it to continue processing.

For example, after a user identifies a piece of clothing through Visual Intelligence, they can further go to Qianwen to find the same item on Taobao, compare prices and proceed with placing an order.

In addition, Apple Intelligence's real-time translation is integrated into Messages, FaceTime and the Phone app. Paired with supported AirPods, it can also translate face-to-face conversations in real time, reducing the hassle of frequently switching translation apps during cross-language communication.

The Mail app adds priority mail, mail summaries and smart replies, and the notification system also adds notification summaries, priority notifications and a Reduce Interruptions Focus mode, helping users find important information faster among large amounts of email and notifications.

However, some complex tasks require jumping to the Qianwen App to continue processing. Whether cross-app context can be retained and whether multiple operations can be completed continuously still needs further observation.

Interestingly, in the past decade or so of smartphone development, Apple has always played the role of market educator.

From Touch ID to AirPods and the Dynamic Island, Apple has often been responsible for bringing new technologies and interaction methods to the public, after which domestic manufacturers quickly follow up and use price and localization advantages to promote them to a broader market.

Over the past two years, domestic manufacturers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor, OPPO and vivo have taken turns on stage, and from AI erasure and smart summaries to cross-app Agents, they have almost thoroughly told the AI phone story in every possible way.

Apple, arriving late, instead unexpectedly became a beneficiary who enjoys the shade.

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