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Qwen4 Is Coming: From Teaser to Max Preview Launch

Alibaba teased the upcoming Qwen4 generation on November 11, then opened the Qwen4-Max preview two days later with a limited-time 1M-token context test.

2026-11-11 ~ 2026-11-13 · 2 episodes · 21 posts

Episode 1 · Alibaba Announces Qwen4 Coming, Qwen4-Max Preview Launches First (2026-11-11, 19 posts)

On November 11, Alibaba's Qwen officially announced that the next-generation Qwen4 model family is coming, launching the first model, Qwen4-Max Preview. The model currently has no public benchmarks or open weights and is in a preview/grey-scale stage. The mysterious model "Qoduck" updated daily on Qoder's anonymous leaderboard for 4 days was officially confirmed to be the internal test version of Qwen4-Max.

Confirmed

  • Official messaging says the new model offers deeper knowledge understanding, richer world perception, and continued advances in coding and agentic capabilities, targeting complex programming, professional office work, front-end design and professional software operation.
  • Available channels include Qwen Chat (chat interface only, no API yet per @AIFlowML), Alibaba Token Plan (launch channel, model ID qwen4-max-preview, supporting text and reasoning modalities), Qwen APP, Qoder, and per @智东西 also Qwen office and QwenStudio; @EveningAd6637 reports it also landed on QwenCloud.
  • Per @emmanuelvivier, the model supports 1M token context with max output of 393,216 tokens, has thinking mode on by default adjustable via reasoningeffort, and is currently limited to Token Plan subscribers.
  • Discounts: the official Qwen公众号 says the preview launched at 10% of price (limited-time lowest 1折 per @智东西); @BetterStory727 mentions up to 90% off on Token Plan; @meshive, @srigi and @EveningAd6637 report limited-time 20% off API calls; @EveningAd6637 also notes QwenCloud shows up to 50% off token plans.
  • Qoder officially upgraded to Qwen4-Max-Preview; developers have used it in Qoder to build a SaaS app and an interactive 3D underwater world from scratch; @HeyNayeem built a Prompt Playground app in a single session with clean UI and smooth interaction.
  • @智东西 hands-on: multimodal agent delivery is impressive but consistency still fails at times; parameters and benchmark scores remain unpublished. Qwen3.7-Plus and Qwen3.8 series also appear in the Qwen Chat list.

Unconfirmed

  • The relationship between the Qwen3.7/3.8 series mentioned by @scaling01 and Qwen4 has no official explanation.
  • Beyond @智东西's hands-on, no systematic benchmark data exists; comments cited by @AIFlowML caution that "vibe tests" will flood in before API evaluations, and whether real agentic evaluations match official claims remains to be seen.

Why it matters

  • This is the first appearance of Qwen's next flagship series, positioned as a capability upgrade for real-world complex tasks, especially coding and agent workflows, with million-token context and adjustable reasoning effort pointing to long-horizon tasks.
  • The Qoduck reveal shows Alibaba validated the model in a real product environment before official release.
  • "Qwen4 is coming" with only Max released so far signals the full Qwen4 family (possibly including open-source versions) will roll out, a key signal for Alibaba's model roadmap.

Episode 2 · Alibaba Opens Qwen4-Max Preview with 1M Token Context (2026-11-13, 2 posts)

Alibaba has released a preview of Qwen4-Max, the first model in the Qwen4 series, featuring a 1M token context window. Available via the Token Plan, the preview runs for a 14-day window ending November 25.