Apple Watch Series 3 rollout hits speed bumps in China as carriers still not ready

China’s early adopters who tried out Apple Watch Series 3 cellular connectivity with China Unicom are furious after connection failures and China Unicom’s passive reaction. The connection issue, however, seems to be China Unicom’s fault: they still have not gotten formal approval from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for “one phone number multi-device (一号多终端)” business, essential to support Apple Watch Series 3 cellular connectivity.

Tian purchased the Apple Watch Series 3 through Apple’s official website and China Unicom’s SIM card to pair with it. To his disappointment, after pairing China Unicom’s data service with Apple Watch, he couldn’t receive any calls.

“It’s been two weeks. I called China Unicom seven times, no use. I’ve also visited two China Unicom stores, got a new SIM card with same number, but still no use,” he told TechNode.

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