After delay: iPhone Air comes to China

Actually, the iPhone Air has been on the market since September 19. However, this did not apply to the People’s Republic of China: Due to regulatory problems, which apparently had to do with the omission of the SIM slot, the device was initially postponed. The wait will soon be over: In a posting on the Chinese microblogging service Weibo.cn, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the start of orders this Friday (October 17) and the delivery of the devices can be expected in the coming week.

First mobile phone in China only with eSIM

For a long time, there had been speculation as to how Apple would implement the Chinese version of the iPhone Air. Because: Actually, it is still common in the Middle Kingdom for smartphones to have slots for physical SIM cards. In the iPhone Air, however, Apple needs every millimeter and therefore decided to rely on the embedded SIM, or eSIM for short, which comes to the device via software. Apple then probably succeeded in persuading the Chinese telecommunications regulation to approve it.

However, this took time: At the start of pre-orders for the iPhone Air, the announcement came soon that the approval was not yet available after all. The process has now been completed – it is unclear whether Apple still had to make software changes or whether it was simply a bureaucratic delay.

Other current iPhones still with physical SIM

The iPhone Air is the only model of this year’s iPhone vintage that relies only on the eSIM in all markets. For iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, it depends on the respective market. For example, there are no longer any SIM slots in the USA (where they have been for several years) or Japan (new this year), but there are in Europe. The devices then have a physical SIM such as eSIM, alternatively you can store two eSIMs at the same time.

However, the SIM card slot in the iPhone 17 models also has a direct disadvantage for the first time: Apple now uses the space in the eSIM-only models to increase the battery slightly. This means that US iPhones run two hours longer than EU devices in Apple’s video test. If you absolutely want an eSIM-only iPhone, you have to buy it abroad, there is no choice in this country.