Apple Intelligence Accidentally Launched in China, Taken Down Due to Lack of Regulatory Approval

Apple Intelligence was accidentally launched in China recently and quickly taken down by Apple. The feature has been ready for months but has not yet obtained regulatory approval in China, with no release plan currently and no relation to the iOS 26.5 beta.

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman pointed out that this incident is clearly an accident: Apple would not launch an AI feature in an important market without an announcement, nor would it launch it at midnight, and the feature used Google reverse image search which is blocked in China.

Some users reported that when clicking to download Apple Intelligence in "Apple Intelligence & Siri", no progress prompt popped up.