The Information has reported on the ultra-thin iPhone 17 model, currently dubbed as the iPhone 17 Air. It is said that the prototype Apple has released does not have a SIM tray, using only eSIM technology to drive the usage of eSIM iPhones worldwide. According to the report, this direction may result in the iPhone 17 Air not being sold in China, as the country does not yet permit the use of eSIM in smartphones.
Apple has been advocating for the use of eSIM with network carriers for quite some time, citing security reasons over traditional SIM cards. In the United States, Apple has exclusively sold eSIM-only versions of the iPhone starting from the iPhone 14 in 2022, but has not expanded this approach to other countries until now.
For Thailand, Apple’s support document specifies that the network carriers that support eSIM are AIS, dtac, and TrueMove H.
Source: The Information
TLDR: The iPhone 17 Air may not be available in China due to its eSIM-only design, as Apple continues to push for the adoption of eSIM technology globally. In the US, only eSIM versions of iPhones have been sold since the iPhone 14, with Thailand’s network carriers supporting eSIM including AIS, dtac, and TrueMove H.
Leave a Comment