Apple Watch's LTE Suspended In China Possibly Due To Government Security Concerns (appleinsider.com)

The Apple Watch Series 3's best new feature has been mysteriously blocked in China. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, China has cut off the Apple Watch's LTE connectivity on Sept. 28 after brief availability from China Unicom. Industry analysts claim that the suspension is probably from governmental concerns about not being able to track and confirm users of the device. AppleInsider reports: Apple issued a brief statement confirming the situation, and referring customers to China Unicom. Neither China Unicom, nor Chinese regulators have made any statement on the matter. The issue may stem from the eSIM in the Apple Watch. Devices like the iPhone have state-owned telecom company-issued SIM cards -- and the eSIM is embedded in the device by Apple. "The eSIM (system) isn't mature enough yet in China," one analyst said. "The government still needs to figure out how they can control the eSIM." The LTE version of the Apple Watch had only a trial certificate to operate on the Chinese LTE network. An analyst who asked not to be identified expects that Ministry of Industry and Information Technology may take months to figure out how the government will deal with the eSIM, and issue a formal certificate for operation.

Comments

Re:Reinstate the Draft

[PopeRatzo]

oops, wrong story. I'm so old I can't even keep my Slashdot stories straight.

If only there was a way to sort them on my Apple Watch.

Why not ask the U.S. government?

[p51d007]

I'm sure the U.S. government knows how to track via "smart" watches. Hell, people give up their rights to privacy all the time, since the advent of smartphones and beyond.

Re:Why not ask the U.S. government?

[tlhIngan]

It's not tracking that's the problem.

It's that in China, SIM cards are highly controlled. The government basically wants a full blown profile on you from your name and date of birth, to your political leanings, whether you want beef or chicken in your sandwich and whether or not you know what the letters V, P and N could stand for.

Pass that, you get your SIM card and have cellphone service.

Problem is, it's a supply-managed system - the Chinese government controls cellphone access by controlling SIM card availability.

eSIMs or embedded UICCs (Universal Integrated Chip Carriers) are regular SIM cards, however they are provisioned remotely. Instead of physically installing a SIM card, the contents of a SIM card are transferred to the device (and in the case of keys, generated onboard and the other half given out).

Of course, this is a problem - since the government can't deny you a SIM card if you have an eSIM, and who's to say you can't fake your way into getting one if you don't have to present all your papers to get one?

So of course, China bans it

Baseband modem.

[DrYak]

The standard modus operandi for most 3G/4G.enabled devices is to use the baseband modem.

With very few exceptions (OMAP-based devices used in things like the Pyra handheld, or the upcoming Librem 5 by Purism), the modem isn't a separate segregated chip, but is part of the main chipset, and sometime even work as a kind of Northbridge, and is directly in charge of sensitive part of the phone like the RAM (Hello Qualcomm, I'm pointing fingers to you).

For obvious radio frequency licensing reasons, this baseband runs proprietary closed blobs (just ask the guys at LineageOS, formely CaynogenMod, what they think of these proprietary bullshit - they can't even bring up such a basic function as the RAM using opensource code, the blobs are mandatory to do anything on these chipsets). Part of the code that is executed by the modem comes from the chipset manufacturer who owns the necessary license, part of the code are instructionx sent over the air by the cell operator (also licensed). Same "proprietary closed blobs" situation also apply on the SIM card itself.

Means that, it's very easy for a government agency that has the proper clearance and access to just remotely access whatever they need simply by sending the corresponding instruction over the air.

In the case of the iPhone, the situation is easier for China, because they are issued only with government approved SIM cards.

In the case of the Apple Watch, the situation is a bit more difficult for China than the US because they do not control the SIM card inside the watch.

Hence, I imagine they probably aren't happy about being "second class spies" compared to the US and that is I think the reason for delaying the authorisation of Apple Watch over there.