Apple's mainland-China site published a support page titled "Using Qwen with Apple Intelligence on Mac" on 8 August. By 9 August it was gone. In the roughly fifteen hours it was live, it was the first time Apple itself — not press reports, not Tim Cook's general remarks — named Alibaba's Qwen as the model behind Apple Intelligence in China.
What it specified
The page required macOS 26.6 or later and one of three eligibility conditions: being in mainland China with an Apple Account set to mainland China, using a mainland-China model Mac, or being physically in China with no account signed in. Activation ran through System Settings, under Apple Intelligence and Siri, and required a Qwen account login.
Mac only
The scope was narrow: Writing Tools in Notes and Mail, plus a Siri hand-off that asks permission first — the sample commands were asking Siri to have Qwen write a poem or summarise a document. No iPhone, iPad or visionOS version was mentioned, and no date. Outside mainland China the equivalent slot is occupied by ChatGPT.
No explanation
Neither Apple nor Alibaba issued a statement. An Apple customer-service representative confirmed the page had been taken down. The reason circulating — that the services still await regulatory approval and the final partner is undecided — traces to that representative alone; the outlet that broke the removal says no reason was given.
Why it reads as a slip
Support documentation is written and localised ahead of a launch. A page carrying a minimum OS version, a three-way eligibility matrix and a step-by-step activation path is not a draft. Its removal suggests the launch is gated on Beijing rather than on Apple.