Apple Intelligence’s language list, published on apple.com/apple-intelligence and repeated in Apple’s September 9 press release, runs to 16 entries once Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional) are counted as two separate languages. Apple’s own live iOS 27 feature availability page, however, marks the Chinese (Simplified) option as excluded in China mainland across several Apple Intelligence features, a distinction between language and place that the headline count of 16 does not show.
That distinction matters because China mainland is where most Simplified Chinese readers live. Listing the language is not the same as making the feature reachable there, and iOS 27 arrives Monday with both statements true at once.
Key facts
| Item | What Apple publishes |
|---|---|
| Apple Intelligence languages | 16, counting Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional) separately |
| Chinese (Simplified) status | Listed as a supported language; marked “not available in China mainland” on several Apple Intelligence feature rows |
| Siri AI and China | “Siri AI and the other new Apple Intelligence features will not be available in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements” |
| Source for the language list | apple.com/apple-intelligence and the September 9 press release footnote |
| Source for the region carve-out | apple.com/ios/feature-availability/ |
The 16 languages, in Apple’s own list
Apple’s verbatim list, from the iPhone 18 Pro press release footnote and apple.com/apple-intelligence:
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- Chinese (Simplified)
- Chinese (Traditional)
- Danish
- Dutch
- English
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Norwegian
- Portuguese
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Turkish
- Vietnamese
Where the language and the region split
Apple’s iOS 27 feature availability page lists individual Apple Intelligence tools, such as Writing Tools, Genmoji and Image Playground, with Chinese (Simplified) named among the supported languages and then flagged again with a regional note reading “not available in China mainland.” The note repeats across multiple feature rows rather than appearing once, which is why it reads as a pattern on the page rather than a single exception.
The gating requirement Apple states for the platform overall does not mention region at all: “Apple Intelligence is available with Siri and device language set to Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Vietnamese.” Taken alone, that sentence reads as a language switch with no geography attached. It is only on the feature-by-feature availability page that the China mainland carve-out appears, which means a reader who checks only the main Apple Intelligence page would not see it.
Vision Pro’s shorter list, from an older document
Apple’s separate “How to get Apple Intelligence” support article, last published for the prior OS cycle, states that Vision Pro supports a shorter set of languages than the rest of the lineup: “English, French, German, Italian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.” That is nine languages, not 16, and it excludes Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish and Vietnamese entirely on that device. Apple has not republished this Vision Pro-specific list for visionOS 27, so it should be read as the most recent figure available rather than a confirmed one for Monday’s release.
What Apple has said about Siri AI in China
Apple’s June newsroom release on Siri AI states only: “Siri AI and the other new Apple Intelligence features will not be available in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements.” No Apple page fetched for this article names a date, a regulator or a specific requirement still outstanding. Apple’s hardware pages, by contrast, name China as a launch market for both iPhone 18 Pro and AirPods 5 pre-orders, so the silence sits specifically on the software side.
| Where Chinese (Simplified) appears | What Apple says |
|---|---|
| Apple Intelligence’s 16-language list | Included, no region carve-out stated at that level |
| iOS 27 feature availability page, per-feature rows | Included, with “not available in China mainland” noted repeatedly |
What Apple has not said
Apple has not named a date for Siri AI in China, has not detailed which regulatory requirements remain open, and has not reconciled the 16-language marketing figure with the per-feature China mainland exclusion on its own feature availability page. Whether the exclusion applies to an Apple Account registered outside China mainland is not addressed on the pages checked for this article.
Apple’s feature availability page is the one to recheck after September 14, since it is the page most likely to be updated first if anything changes for China mainland specifically.
