After weeks of delay, Apple has confirmed that preorders for its new iPhone Air will begin in China on October 17, marking the device’s official entry into the Chinese market, Bloomberg is reporting.

One of the key obstacles that had held back the launch was China’s regulatory requirement for telecom carriers to support eSIM technology. Apple’s iPhone Air is built as an eSIM-only model, with no physical SIM card slot. That design posed a hurdle in China, where eSIM adoption by local carriers has been limited.

However, regulatory approval has now come through. China’s three major carriers i.e. China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, have been authorized to launch trial eSIM services. With that clearance in place, Apple has been able to schedule the preorder and sales rollout.

In a

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