One would ordinarily expect tech-savvy China to have jumped on the eSIM bandwagon long ago. Reality, however, remains the polar opposite, thanks to a confluence of intrinsic factors that remain unique to mainland China. Nonetheless, winds of change are afoot, courtesy of Apple and its decision to launch the iPhone 17 Air as an eSIM-only variant.

As we noted in a dedicated post recently, iPhone 17 Air's ultra-thin, titanium unibody frame required a few compromises, including the forfeiture of a physical SIM card tray, as well as the lowest battery capacity in the lineup, at just 62 percent of the Pro Max variant's energy density, and around 11 percent below even that of the base iPhone 17.

The elimination of a physical SIM card tray in the iPhone 17 Air has complicated Apple's launch ca

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