The iPhone, which has always doled out features sparingly, has finally set a good example this time.

Gradual upgrades and strategic cutbacks can be regarded as Apple's two key tactics in recent years.

The meaning of "gradual upgrades" is well-known, and "strategic cutbacks" are also easy to understand. Starting from making the battery non-removable, to eliminating the 3.5mm headphone jack, and then removing the standard charger, Apple has wielded its precise "knife" in the name of integration, environmental protection, etc. Not only has it profited from these moves, but it has also "led astray" many of its peers.

Compared to the past, Apple's decision to eliminate the SIM card this year seems to be setting a good example.

On October 17th, the "thinnest iPhone ever", the iPhone Air, began pre-sales. It sold out on the official website in just five minutes, and multiple offline stores also showed "out of stock". One important reason for the mad rush was that it is the first domestic smartphone to support eSIM.

eSIM, short for Embedded-SIM, is different from the common SIM card. Instead of being in the form of a card, it is a small chip embedded in the device's circuit board.

To promote eSIM, Tim Cook hosted a live-streamed sales event in China for the first time, giving a big boost to the iPhone Air. Major official media outlets also joined in the promotion. Domestic mobile phone manufacturers, as always, followed Apple's lead. OPPO, which recently launched new models, became the earliest domestic mobile phone brand to support eSIM.

Many people joked: "Isn't a phone without a SIM card just like the old PHS?"

With all the hype, eSIM is definitely not that simple.

Apple has been honing this "cutback" skill for 10 years.

This time, it's really irresistible.

Apple fans surely know that the Chinese version of the iPhone is different from the overseas version.

Features such as 5G millimeter-wave frequency bands, 15W wireless charging, and FaceTime voice mode are either unavailable to Chinese Apple fans or were only introduced many years later. Not to mention Apple's AI, which has been absent for two consecutive years. In the era of AI-powered mobile phones, it has become a great disappointment for Chinese Apple fans.

eSIM is also a technology that arrived late.

As early as 2011, Apple applied for a patent for a virtual SIM card.

In July 2015, Apple and Samsung planned to jointly launch eSIM. In August, Samsung launched the first smartwatch supporting eSIM.

In June 2016, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association officially released the eSIM specification. This specification has been supported by more than 30 global operators, chip manufacturers, and mobile phone manufacturers. After the specification was introduced, more and more mobile phones and other smart devices became compatible with eSIM, and its influence expanded.

The popularity of eSIM has, as expected, caught the attention of the three major Chinese operators.

In 2018, China Unicom was the first to announce a trial commercial operation of the "one-number, dual-terminal" service in six Chinese cities. This was the first time that a Chinese operator launched an eSIM service in the Chinese mainland market.

After about two years of trial operation, China Unicom, China Mobile, and China Telecom were successively approved to launch eSIM technology application services for wearable devices and Internet of Things devices nationwide.

Just when people thought that eSIM in China was about to take off, everything came to an abrupt halt.

In 2023, the three major operators successively issued announcements suddenly halting eSIM services.

Many people believe that eSIM affects the operators' dominance. With eSIM, users can activate a card, select a plan, and change numbers without going to the business hall. For operators, it becomes easier for users to come and go, which reduces user stickiness and intensifies competition.

In addition, there is a widely recognized reason in the industry for the halt of eSIM: security risks. For example, some people exploited OTA vulnerabilities to register eSIM numbers in bulk using false identity information for telecom fraud and spam messaging. Some users also converted eSIMs into physical cards for remote card-making services and exceeded their data limits.

Since it was halted, why was it restarted just two years later?

Ultimately, it's the trend of the times, and it can't be stopped.

Not only smartphones but also other smart terminals need eSIM. For smartwatches, independent calling and Internet access, waterproofing, dustproofing, and long battery life are all essential. Using a traditional SIM card is a waste of space. Even the smallest nano-SIM card, along with its slot, spring contacts, and waterproof ring, takes up as much space as a battery. Moreover, the physical card slot is a mechanical opening, making it difficult to achieve a higher level of waterproofing.

For other products like computers and cars, although space is not as limited, eSIM is more secure and reliable than SIM cards, and its cost is much lower. Therefore, using eSIM has become an almost inevitable choice. This is especially true in the automotive industry, where eSIM is a standard feature for "connected cars".

The trend is here, and risks cannot be an excuse for not moving forward.

Who will benefit the most from the implementation of eSIM?

In many people's eyes, the direct impetus for restarting the eSIM service in China is the iPhone Air. The internet is filled with comments like "Foreign remedies work faster".

Whether this speculation is true or not, it's true that Apple has been actively promoting eSIM.

Since the iPhone XS in 2018, Apple has introduced the "physical SIM + eSIM" solution to iPhones. Since the iPhone 14 series in 2022, Apple has officially removed the SIM card slot in the US and fully adopted the eSIM solution.

Driven by Apple, the three largest US operators now fully support eSIM. As a result, North America has become the world's largest eSIM market, with a market share of 43% by the end of last year.

There's no smoke without fire. Mobile phone manufacturers represented by Apple are the primary beneficiaries of promoting eSIM.

In recent years, competition has been fierce, and major mobile phone brands have been using various strategies. Just this year, Apple disrupted the traditional lineup by replacing "Plus" with "Air" to meet the needs of different user groups. Xiaomi skipped Mi 16 and went straight to Mi 17, introducing a rear display as a selling point. Vivo removed the "Pro mini" models from its X series and implemented a "streamlining strategy" in the X300 series, focusing on the core product lines.

However, most of the efforts and innovations of mobile phone manufacturers have had limited impact.

A study by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that in the first half of 2025, the average replacement cycle for Chinese mobile phone users was nearly 33 months. Many people even choose to save money by buying last year's flagship models because the performance is more than sufficient.

The emergence of eSIM gives mobile phone manufacturers new hope.

Without the SIM card slot, the phone becomes more integrated and sealed, making it less likely to get water or dust inside. In addition, eSIM is small in size, which not only makes the phone thinner but also provides extra space for a larger battery, more advanced heat dissipation, and a more powerful camera module... According to Apple executives at the product launch, the space originally occupied by the SIM card in eSIM models is now used for the battery, resulting in longer battery life.

Compared with the somewhat overhyped "200-megapixel" promotion, such an upgrade should be more convincing for users to switch to a new phone.

From the user's perspective, the extreme convenience of eSIM is probably more attractive than the upgrade of phone performance.

With eSIM, there's no need to insert or remove a card, no need to wait for the delivery of a physical card, and no need for a card ejector. All operations such as activating a card, changing a card, and porting a number can be completed online.

Especially for users who travel abroad frequently, the convenience of eSIM is more obvious. They no longer need to change cards frequently because eSIM allows multiple operator profiles to be stored simultaneously (usually supporting 8 - 10 profiles). Users can simply switch to the corresponding number in a few clicks in the settings when they go to a different country.

In terms of security, eSIM also outperforms SIM cards. Since it is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be removed, even if the phone is lost, users can immediately call the operator to remotely lock the card.

A survey by market research firm Counterpoint Research showed that although only 35% of