By Chris Welch, Bloomberg
Apple Inc. is bringing its superthin iPhone Air to China after a pause that allowed local carriers to prepare for the eSIM-only device.
Preorders start Oct. 17 after domestic carriers including China Mobile Ltd. won approval to support that feature. The device will be available in stores Oct. 22, a company spokesperson said. The launch of sales coincides with Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook’s latest visit to China, where he posted about meeting Labubu-creator Kasing Lung and visited an Apple store in Shanghai. Cook also outlined a donation to Tsinghua University, the country’s most prestigious college.
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The slim, lightweight iPhone Air doesn’t use physical SIM cards, making it the first smartphone from Apple to only offer eSIM connectivity. With eSIM, all mobile networking technology is embedded directly into the phone. During a launch event last month, Apple explained that eliminating the SIM tray allowed it to put a larger battery inside the thin handset.
In China, a critical market for Apple, carriers have been slow to build out support for eSIM, which resulted in the Air’s staggered release there. (The phone debuted elsewhere on Sept. 19.)
The iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max still accept physical SIMs in some countries including China, but not in the US. In regions where the devices are eSIM-only, Apple includes a larger-sized battery. Chinese news outlet Jiemian earlier reported the iPhone Air’s sales date.
The Cupertino, California-based company is expected to announce several products this week, including an updated iPad Pro, MacBook Pro and Vision Pro headset. The company reports its next quarterly earnings on Oct. 30, which should offer an early glimpse at how well the new iPhone lineup is selling.
–With assistance from Jessica Sui, Mark Anderson and Qianwei Zhang.
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