GoKawiilApple’s iPhone 17 lineup has, by all appearances, proven a hit with consumers so far. But the iPhone Air so far has been missing from one of Apple’s biggest markets: China. Fortunately, the iPhone Air’s arrival in China is almost here.
iPhone Air pre-orders open this Friday, shipping next week
When Apple unveiled the iPhone Air, it said the device would become available for pre-order on Friday, September 12 in a wide global launch.
China was originally announced as a launch country, but Apple later had to change its plans.
Due to regulatory issues surrounding the device’s eSIM-only design, the iPhone Air’s launch in China was delayed indefinitely.
Now, per CEO Tim Cook’s post on Weibo, Apple is nearly ready to launch the device.
iPhone Air pre-orders will begin this Friday, October 17 at 9:00 a.m. for users in mainland China.
iPhone Air will then ship to Chinese users on Wednesday, October 22.
It is still unknown how the Chinese market will respond to the eSIM-only model. Physical SIMs are more commonplace there than in many other parts of the world.
However, the timing of the launch does provide a couple weeks worth of data for Apple to highlight in its next quarterly earnings call on October 30, if it wants to.
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