Overview

• The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved commercial trials, and China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have opened eSIM phone services nationwide.
• Activation requires an appointment and in-person, real-name verification at designated service halls with the device present, with no proxy handling or enrollment for minors allowed.
• Existing numbers cannot be converted to eSIM across provinces, devices can host at most two eSIM numbers, personal mobile number totals remain capped at five, and only mainland China–sold devices qualify.
• Handset makers are promoting domestic eSIM support in forthcoming models such as Apple’s iPhone 17 Air and Huawei’s next flagships, while early availability is limited and many phones will pair a physical SIM with eSIM.
• Analysts expect the move to speed eSIM use in cellular IoT as standards mature, with GSMA’s SGP.32 improving interoperability and Counterpoint estimating IoT eSIM connections rising from about 200 million in 2023 to 2.2 billion by 2030.