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📱 1. China is finally rolling out eSIM for phones

After years of limited support, China's mainland carriers have started offering eSIM phone services nationwide following regulatory approval, moving toward a "card-less" era in mobile telecom.

This follows earlier periods where eSIM was only used on wearables or IoT devices, not phones.

📱 2. Apple's eSIM-Only iPhone Air helped accelerate change

The iPhone Air — Apple's first eSIM-only model — highlighted the need for eSIM support, since it has no physical SIM slot.

Major carriers in China later obtained approvals to support this model, and pre-orders began after regulatory green lights.

📡 3. Three big Chinese carriers are now involved

China Unicom was among the first carriers to support eSIM business in China.

China Mobile and China Telecom have also been rolling out eSIM services, joining the push toward eSIM adoption.

📊 4. Rapid user interest and market momentum

After carriers opened eSIM registration or appointment channels, tens of thousands of users signed up quickly, showing strong demand.

The arrival of eSIM phones is seen as part of a broader shift in China's telecom market.

⚠️ 5. Some early rollout quirks

There were reports of temporary age-related restrictions at a carrier during eSIM launch, but those were described as system issues during early rollout and have been addressed.