Qwen teases next generation after Apple deal lifts Alibaba stock 5.7%

The Qwen account's cryptic post, 'The becoming begins,' drew nearly 15K likes and 1.2K reposts. The community read it as the countdown to Qwen 4.

The teaser arrives at a high point for Qwen:

- Apple confirmed that Qwen powers Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence on iPhone 15 Pro and later models in China.

- Alibaba stock rose 5.7% on that news.

- During Singles' Day livestreams on Taobao and Tmall, about 100,000 QwenWork subscriptions sold in 30 minutes.

- Qwen now has more than 470 open-source variants.

Alibaba's chairman is pitching open-source AI as a counterweight to US closed models.

Local-model users have mixed feelings. A 1,381-upvote r/LocalLLaMA thread complains that Qwen3.8-27B has 'become unusable recently,' and a separate thread with 280 comments collects Qwen 4 wishlists. Watch for the release date, model sizes and license terms.