Apple has postponed the launch of its new iPhone Air model in China due to regulatory issues surrounding its eSIM design, the company said.

Wireless carriers in China need a special license from the government before they can sell a new device with an eSIM, and the carriers haven’t secured that approval yet, Apple said. The company added that it’s working to make the device available in China as soon as possible.

Apple announced the iPhone Air at its annual event on Tuesday. The device, which is 5.6 millimeters thick, marks the first major new iPhone design since the iPhone X was introduced in 2017. The iPhone Air doesn’t support a physical SIM card, and instead features an eSIM built into the device.

CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday that the eSIM is what allows the device to still have “great” battery life.

“It’s eSIM only, and so we were able to take the battery and extend the battery to areas that previously had the physical cell,” Cook said.

The company previously said the iPhone Air would become available for pre-order in the region on Friday at 2 a.m. EST before it goes on sale September 19.

As of Friday morning, the iPhone Air product page on Apple’s China website stated, “Release information will be updated later.”

The website notes that China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom will offer eSIM support for the iPhone Air, “with specific timing subject to regulatory approval.”

— CNBC’s Steve Kovach contributed to this report.

Nvidia and OpenAI are in discussions about backing a major investment in Britain focused on boosting artificial intelligence infrastructure in the country.

The two tech firms are discussing a sizable deal to support data center development in the country which could ultimately be worth billions of dollars, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC, confirming earlier reporting from the Financial Times.

The companies are still working through various processes at the moment with Nvidia and cloud computing firm Nscale, said the person, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

They added that an investment agreement has not yet been finalized. It is expected to be unveiled next week during U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit to the U.K.

Nvidia and Nscale did did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. OpenAI declined to comment on the discussions.

Countries around the world have been courting major U.S. AI players in a bid to boost their own national infrastructure and technological ambitions.

The topic of so-called “sovereign” AI — the idea of onshoring the data processing infrastructure behind advanced artificial intelligence systems — has been top of mind for officials as governments look to reduce their dependency on foreign countries for critical technologies.

The U.K. government declined to comment when asked by CNBC about the investment discussions with OpenAI, Nvidia and Nscale. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to join Trump on his state visit to Britain next week.

Earlier this year, the Nvidia boss called the U.K. an “incredible place to invest” and said his multitrillion-dollar chipmaker would boost investment in the country. “The U.K. is in a Goldilocks circumstance,” Huang said at the time in a panel discussion with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

For decades, shows like “Star Trek” and novels like “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” have showcased fictional universal translators, capable of seamlessly converting any language into English and vice versa.

Now, those gadgets once limited to works of science fiction are inching close to reality.

During its iPhone unveiling event on Tuesday, Apple included a video of many travelers’ dream scenario. It showed an English-speaking tourist buying flowers in an unnamed Spanish-speaking country. The florist addressed the tourist in Spanish, but what the tourist heard was in clear, coherent English.

“Today all the red carnations are 50% off,” the tourist heard in English in her headphones, at essentially the same time that the clerk was speaking.

The video was marketing material for Apple’s latest AirPods Pro 3, but the feature is one of many of its kind coming from tech companies that also include Google parent Alphabet and Meta, which makes Facebook and Instagram.

Technological advancements spurred by the arrival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 have ushered in an era of generative artificial intelligence. Almost three years later, those advancements are resulting in real-time language translators.

For Apple, Live Translation is a key selling point for the AirPods Pro 3, which the company unveiled on Tuesday. The new $250 earbuds go on sale next week, and with Live Translation, users will be able to immediately hear French, German, Portuguese and Spanish translated to English. Live Translation will also arrive as an update to AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 on Monday.

And when two people are speaking to each other wearing AirPods, the conversation can be translated both ways simultaneously inside each user’s headphones. In Apple’s video demo, it looked like two people talking to each other in different languages.

Analysts are excited that the feature could mark a step forward for Apple’s AI strategy. The translation feature needs to be paired with a new-enough iPhone to run Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI software suite.

“If we can actually use the AirPods for live translations, that’s a feature that would actually get people to upgrade,” DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria told CNBC on Wednesday.

Translation is emerging as a key battleground in the technology industry as AI gets good enough to translate languages as quickly as people speak.

But Apple is not alone.

And OpenAI in June showcased an intelligent voice assistant mode for ChatGPT that has fluid translation built-in as one of many features. ChatGPT is integrated with Apple’s Siri, but not in voice mode. OpenAI is planning to release new hardware products with Apple’s former design guru Jony Ive in the coming years.

The rise of live translation could also reshape entire industries. Translators and interpreters are the number one type of job threatened by AI, and 98% of translators’ work activities overlap with what AI can do, a Microsoft Research study published in August found.

Given Apple’s massive scale and the fact that the Apple shipped about 18 million sets of wireless headphones in the first quarter alone, according to Canalys, the company’s entry into the market will expose a wider subset of customers to improvements translation tech has made in recent years.

Despite Apple’s entry into the market, makers of purpose-built devices say their focus on accuracy and knowledge of linguistics will provide better translations than what’s available for free with a new phone.

“We actually hired linguists,” said Aleksander Alski, head of U.S. and Canada for Poland-based Vasco Electronics, which is releasing translation headphones that can imitate the user’s voice, like Google’s feature. “We combined the AI with with human input, and thanks to that, we were able to secure much higher accuracy throughout all the languages we offer.”

There’s also home-field advantage. Vasco Electronics’ largest market is Europe, and Apple’s Live Translation isn’t available for EU users, Apple said on its website.

Some of the products being introduced by tech companies are less than universal, and are limited to a small number of languages for now. Apple’s feature is only available in 5 languages, versus Pocketalk’s 95.

Pocketalk’s Miller believes that the potential of the technology goes far beyond a tourist ordering a glass of wine in France. He says that it’s most powerful when its used in workplaces like schools and hospitals, which require privacy and security features that go beyond what Apple and Google provide.

“This isn’t about luxury tourism and travel,” Miller said. “This is about the intersection of language and friction, when a discussion needs to be had.”

Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.

WATCH: If the AirPods live translation features work, it’s a breakthrough in AI, says DA Davidson’s Luria