China debut of thinner iPhone 17 likely to face hurdles amid smartphone eSim uncertainty

The world’s thinnest iPhone may face a delayed arrival in one of Apple’s most critical markets, as the embedded-Sim infrastructure is not ready for a nationwide roll-out in time for the iPhone 17 launch this month.

Shop assistants at two Apple authorised resellers in Foshan, in southern Guangdong province, said they have not received any training regarding the eSim support. In comparison, employees at resellers in the European Union were asked to complete a relevant course by Friday, MacRumors reported last week.

Tech influencer Fixed Focus Digital, which has 2.3 million followers on Chinese social media Weibo, said on Wednesday that the roll-out of eSIM in mainland China would be “unlikely” this month, as mass production of the China-targeted thinner iPhone, widely speculated to be called iPhone 17 Air, started months later than the other three models expected to be launched – the basic iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro and the top-of-the-line iPhone 17 Pro Max.

But later availability “isn’t problematic”, he added. Apple is scheduled to hold its much-anticipated launch of the iPhone 17 family on September 9.

Weibo influencer ChillsYaya, meanwhile, said in a post last week that China Unicom, one of the country’s three major state-owned telecommunications network operators, had notified its employees to offer eSim support for Apple.