Apple Intelligence launched yesterday worldwide in American Englishbut if you’re an iPhone user in the EU or mainland China, I won’t blame you for not knowing what it is. This is because Apple’s AI is currently not available on phones or tablets in these regions. To use the new technology there, you will have to do it on a Mac.

Apple previously blamed the EU DMA regulations for the restriction.saying that releasing AI as part of its interoperability requirements “could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in a way that puts user privacy and data security at risk.” But suddenly the tone of the company changed. We don’t really know why, but in a Article from Apple’s Irish editorial teamThe iPhone maker now says that “Apple Intelligence features will begin rolling out to iPhone and iPad users in the EU” starting next April.

According to the post, the April release will include “many core Apple Intelligence features, including writing tools, Genmoji, a redesigned Siri with richer language understanding, ChatGPT integration, and more Again”.

It’s unclear whether Apple has reached a deal with the EU or whether the company is moving forward for another reason, just as it’s unclear to what extent EU regulations threaten Apple Intelligence first place. It’s possible that the company launched Apple Intelligence in Europe alongside the rest of the world and simply held back European AI out of an abundance of caution. Less generously, the restraint could have been intended as a means of putting pressure on the region. In the past, European regulators have insinuated that keeping Apple’s AI out of the EU was not entirely their decision, with one European commissioner calling Apple’s choice to stop European publication of Apple Intelligence a “great open statement» of anti-competitive behavior.

I’ve reached out to Apple and the EU for clarification and will update this article as soon as I hear back. Still, when the feature launches in the region, it looks like it will be almost entirely comparable to the US version (I’ve also asked Apple to clarify which features EU phones will and won’t benefit from, and will include this. information in updates also).

As noted, Europeans already have access to the full suite of Apple AI features, but only on supported Mac devices. They will need to update to macOS Sequoia 15.1 and first set their device language to US English (under Settings -> General -> Language and region), but this is not a unique problem. Apple promises to add support for various other English dialects in December, including for Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. Indian and Singaporean English and other languages ​​will arrive over the next year, with Apple confirming various European and Asian languages ​​and promising even more.

(If Asian language support has you excited for a release in mainland China, where Apple Intelligence hasn’t even reached the Mac yet, unfortunately this is still not on the agenda.)