Apple is holding back shipments of its new iPhone Air in mainland China while it works with regulators on approval for eSIM.
The company updated its Chinese website on Friday, replacing the original September 19 release date with the note “release information to be updated later,” according to the SCMP. Pre-orders had been scheduled to begin Friday evening. Other models — the iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max — are still on track to launch in China as planned.
The issue? The iPhone Air is being sold as eSIM only, with no option for a physical SIM card. That allows Apple to maximize the size of the battery in the iPhone Air. Apple told local media it is “working closely with regulatory authorities to bring it to China as soon as possible.”
China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom are all expected to support eSIM once the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology signs off.
For customers, this means importing the iPhone Air won’t be a workaround either—iPhones bought outside the mainland cannot load eSIM profiles from Chinese carriers.
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