At its autumn new product launch event, Apple introduced its inaugural foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, featuring a globally standardized eSIM-only design. During its 2026 Partner Conference, China Unicom disclosed that in the first half of 2026, sales of eSIM smartphones in the domestic market hit 1 million units. The market is projected to experience a remarkable 20-fold expansion in the latter half of the year, surpassing the 20 million unit mark. Furthermore, having distributed 300,000 exclusive eSIM benefits in the first half of the year, China Unicom aims to roll out an additional 8 million benefits in the second half.
