eSIM phones become a new trend, and the different paths of Huawei, vivo and other brands

With the release of the domestic version of Apple's iPhone Air in China, eSIM cell phones have officially landed in the domestic market.

As the first eSIM cell phone available for sale in China, the domestic version of iPhone Air encountered many setbacks before its official launch in the country. It was released globally in September this year but failed to enter the Chinese market for a long time. The biggest obstacle preventing its entry into China was that the three major operators had not obtained the commercial license for eSIM cell phone services.

On October 13th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved China Unicom, China Mobile, and China Telecom to conduct commercial trials of eSIM cell phone operation services nationwide. Domestic smartphones have officially entered the "cardless era".

After the three major operators received the green light from upstream, domestic cell phone manufacturers such as Huawei and OPPO quickly responded, aiming to seize the opportunity in the new eSIM - card models.

Just as the cancellation of the 3.5mm headphone jack in the iPhone 7 became a watershed for the wireless transformation of smartphone audio, Apple has always played a leading role in every transformation of the global smartphone industry. Currently, the main consideration for Apple to use eSIM cards in the iPhone Air is to save internal space and make the phone thinner and lighter. How will domestic cell phone manufacturers follow this trend? What changes will the domestic smartphone market witness under the general trend of the "cardless era"?

01 Huawei and OPPO Seize the First eSIM Opportunity

The approval of the three major operators for the commercial trials of eSIM cell phone operation services can be regarded as an important turning point for domestic smartphones to shift from physical SIM cards to electronic SIMs. Facing this historical opportunity, domestic leading cell phone manufacturers have taken action and rushed to layout the eSIM track.

Currently, among domestic cell phone manufacturers, OPPO was the first to take action. On the evening of October 16th, at the OPPO Find X9 series new product launch event, Liu Zuohu, the chief product officer of OPPO, stated that the satellite communication version of the OPPO Find X9 Pro supports eSIM use. This is the first domestic flagship model to support eSIM.

It is worth noting that this model does not completely cancel the physical SIM card slot. Instead, it adopts a "dual - slot compatibility" design, taking into account both the exploration of eSIM and the needs of traditional users. This move is regarded as a practical strategy to balance technological innovation and market acceptance. The OPPO Find X9 Pro has a body thickness of 8.25mm and weighs about 224 grams, and it has certain advantages in performance such as battery life and imaging.

Huawei listed its new model, the Huawei Mate 70 Air, in the telecom terminal product library on October 21st. This phone is equipped with a 6.9 - inch screen with a resolution of 1920x1200, which is slightly larger than the 6.5 - inch model of the iPhone Air. It is reported that the Huawei Mate 80 will be released in November. The launch of the Mate 70 Air at this time is considered to be in competition with Apple's iPhone Air. According to market speculation, this product is very likely to be Huawei's first eSIM model.

OPPO and Huawei's exploration of eSIM can be seen as two different attempts by domestic cell phone manufacturers against the backdrop of the strong association between eSIM and extreme thinness in the iPhone Air. OPPO focuses on demonstrating eSIM - related capabilities and transitioning to a new form, while Huawei's path is closer to that of Apple.

Just as Apple adopted a "physical card + eSIM" hybrid model in the 2018 iPhone XS series before launching the iPhone Air that only supports eSIM, OPPO's "dual - slot compatibility" strategy also cleverly takes a transitional path: it allows the market to feel secure while starting to perceive and experience the connection freedom and ecological synergy brought by eSIM as a basic communication technology.

As for Huawei, it may be more about exploring the balance between eSIM and thinness. It is reported that the Huawei Mate 70 Air is its first Air model, and its launch shortly after the release of Apple's iPhone Air is considered to be in competition with the iPhone Air. According to market speculation, the Huawei Mate 70 Air is very likely to be Huawei's first eSIM model. However, this model has not been officially released yet. Whether it will use eSIM, and whether it will choose to only support eSIM or a hybrid model of physical card + eSIM, still needs to wait for the release of more parameters in the future.

OPPO preempted the title of "the first domestic phone to support eSIM" before Huawei. However, the satellite communication version of the OPPO Find X9 Pro will go on sale in November, and the Huawei Mate 70 Air has not officially made its debut. The market speculates that it may be released simultaneously with the Mate 80 series in November. Which of the two different paths of these two domestic manufacturers is more in line with consumer needs may depend on the subsequent market performance.

OPPO and Huawei's relevant actions can be seen as the active exploration of leading cell phone manufacturers under the new technological trend. In the first half of the new trend, whoever can first establish a mature and stable user experience in the eSIM field will undoubtedly gain a first - mover advantage in the upcoming "cardless era". This is not only a competition of product functions but also a comprehensive test of the manufacturer's ability to combine software and hardware and build an ecological service.

02 The Divergence of "Thinness" among Domestic Manufacturers

In market analysis, the mainstream view is that Apple's strategy of designing cell phones without a physical SIM card is mainly to achieve the goal of "the thinnest iPhone ever". In fact, Apple's exploration of making cell phones thinner and lighter started a long time ago, and each of its major updates has triggered industry changes.

In terms of component design, in 2016, when Apple released the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, it officially cancelled the 3.5mm headphone jack. Besides the considerations of improving waterproof performance and promoting its truly wireless Bluetooth earphones, AirPods, an important reason was to make room for internal space and components, improving performance while reducing the body thickness.

This move was questioned by the market and other cell phone manufacturers at the beginning. However, as time has passed, most mainstream cell phone manufacturers' mid - to high - end models have also cancelled the headphone jack.

Continuously reducing the size of the SIM card is another measure by Apple to make cell phones thinner and lighter, in addition to cancelling the headphone jack.

Apple first introduced the smaller Micro - SIM in the iPhone 4 to replace the Mini - SIM. Then, to make the iPhone thinner and create space for a larger battery and new components, it was the first to use the Nano - SIM card in the iPhone 5, further reducing the size of the SIM card. Now, after introducing eSIM, it is not difficult to see that after reducing the physical SIM card to the extreme, Apple's next goal is to completely cancel the SIM card slot. Currently, from its action of releasing the iPhone Air, it is not difficult to find that the most intuitive short - term goal of introducing the eSIM card is to assist in achieving the extreme thinness of the cell phone.

The newly released iPhone Air weighs only 165 grams and has a thickness of only 5.6 millimeters, making it the thinnest and lightest smartphone Apple has ever produced.

Just as Apple's cancellation of the headphone jack and reduction of the SIM card size triggered industry changes, the release of the iPhone Air has also sparked discussions about "canceling the physical card slot" and "extreme thinness". In addition, the application of eSIM in smartphones has, to a certain extent, expanded the operable space for thin and light cell phones. Against this background, domestic cell phone manufacturers also face the choice of whether to follow the trend of thinner and lighter cell phone models.

Although Lenovo's cell phones are not as well - known as those of Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo, Lenovo took the lead in this wave of the trend towards extreme thinness. The company announced that its moto X70 Air cell phone will be released on October 31st, featuring an AI - enabled Air model. The phone has a thickness of only 5.3mm and weighs 150 grams, making it thinner and lighter than Apple's iPhone Air. It is worth noting that the Lenovo moto X70 Air does not use eSIM but retains the physical card slot design, supporting dual - card dual - standby. It even publicly stated in its promotion that "Air doesn't have to be eSIM". However, this model is equipped with the fourth - generation Snapdragon 7 processor, positioning it as a mid - range product in terms of performance.

Huawei's launch of the new Mate 70 Air indicates that it has also chosen to actively follow the trend of thinness.

Different from Huawei and Lenovo, another leading cell phone manufacturer, Vivo, chose a different direction. Recently, in an exclusive interview after the Vivo X300 series launch event, Huang Tao, the vice - president of product at Vivo, revealed that the company had in - depth discussions and made a prototype of an ultra - thin Air - type product. They even hesitated about whether to include it in the X series or the S series, but finally decided to abandon the project.

Regarding the reason for abandoning the Air project, Vivo believes that this ultra - thin form cannot guarantee a complete user experience, especially the imaging function will be severely restricted, which goes against Vivo's principle of prioritizing user experience.

In addition to the manufacturers with clear - cut responses, some manufacturers are still hesitating in the direction of thinness. On September 10th, shortly after the release of the iPhone 17, Lu Weibing of Xiaomi posted on Weibo, "The iPhone 17 series made a product change, replacing the plus with Air", and asked the public whether "extreme thinness is the right direction".

Recently, however, a technology blogger revealed that a manufacturer is evaluating an eSIM thin and light flagship phone, which is expected to be the Xiaomi 17 Air. The blogger said that the above - mentioned model is expected to be released next year. If the news is true, then Xiaomi has chosen a path similar to that of Huawei: thinness + eSIM.

In fact, under the general trend of eSIM technology eliminating the restrictions of physical card slots, "whether to pursue extreme thinness" has become a common strategic proposition that all cell phone manufacturers cannot avoid. This is far from a simple design choice. It is deeply related to each company's technological accumulation and product direction selection. In the future, how to balance thinness and functional integrity will still be a difficult choice that manufacturers need to face continuously. The more ideal outcome is to achieve both thinness and functional integrity.

03 On the Eve of the Cardless Era: Opportunities and Challenges Coexist

Although eSIM plays an important role in making smartphones thinner and lighter, in fact, it currently cannot support the ambition of achieving both extreme thinness and performance experience at the same time. This can be proven by the sales situation of the iPhone Air.

On October 22nd, the domestic version of the iPhone Air was officially launched in China. However, compared with the enthusiastic market response after the release of the iPhone 17 series, the market feedback for the iPhone Air was not ideal. Well - known Apple analyst Guo Mingchi posted, "The demand for the iPhone Air is lower than expected, and the supply chain has started to reduce shipments and production capacity."

According to Guo Mingchi's analysis, the production capacity of the supply chain will generally be reduced by more than 80% in Q1 of 2026. Some components with a longer pre - shipment lead time are expected to stop production by the end of 2025. This means that the existing Pro series and standard models already cover the needs of most high - end users, and it is difficult to find a new market segment and positioning.

This shows that extreme thinness is not the mainstream demand of current consumers when using cell phones, especially when the iPhone Air compromises on some performance aspects in pursuit of extreme thinness. It is reported that in order to pursue a thinner and lighter body, the iPhone Air has made certain compromises in terms of battery life, imaging, speakers, etc. In fact, consumers pay more attention to these performance configurations than thinness.

Of course, the setback of the iPhone Air only shows that simply pursuing extreme thinness does not meet the current consumer demand for cell phones. Beyond thinness, eSIM undoubtedly has greater potential.

For users, using eSIM can eliminate the cumbersome processes such as finding a card pin and cutting the card when changing a traditional SIM card. Services such as online card activation and package change can be "seamlessly processed". With the "one - number - multiple - terminals" function, users can share communication services among devices such as cell phones, watches, and cars without changing their phone numbers. In addition, during international roaming, eSIM can directly access the local network, providing a more convenient user experience.

For cell phone manufacturers, since eSIM no longer requires an independent card slot and tray, it saves valuable space inside the cell phone. This space can be used for a larger battery, a stronger motor, or other sensors. Without increasing the current size of the cell phone, eSIM cards will undoubtedly help cell phone manufacturers produce cell phones with higher performance.

In addition, although there is no need to simply pursue extreme thinness, using eSIM in foldable cell phones may give foldable cell phones greater potential. Currently, in the promotional materials of foldable cell phones, the focus is mostly on aspects such as thin and light body, battery life, and AI capabilities. The addition of eSIM can precisely reduce a physical card slot at the physical level, releasing more room for internal structure design, and thus playing a positive role in achieving the overall thinness of the device. This not only meets the strict requirements of foldable devices for weight and thickness but also further promotes the layout and exploration of cell phone manufacturers on the high - end path.

However, although eSIM cell phones have great potential, current manufacturers are still in the initial stage of exploration, and it will take some time to reach the real "cardless era".

According to data from the GSMA Association, the number of eSIM cell phone connections will reach 1 billion by the end of 2025 and will increase to 6.9 billion in 2030. By then, eSIM cell phones will account for 76% of the global cell phone connections and will become the absolute mainstream standard.

Currently, eSIM is in the initial stage of implementation, and there is still a long way to go before its full popularization, which involves the conversion between new and old cards. On October 23rd, Ni Fei, the president of ZTE's terminal business unit and the president of Nubia Technology Co., Ltd., posted on a social platform that there are still many implementation difficulties for eSIM at present: the online activation process is not fully smooth, the network coverage in remote areas is still being improved, the fees are relatively high, and many users even don't know how to switch numbers with eSIM.