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Apple Has Considered Removing SIM Card Slot From Some iPhone 14 Models
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NOONE should want this. This just gives power back to the carriers who can then implement charging you a fee anytime you want to swap phones.
How is this any different from them charging you for a physical SIM card too? My carrier actually doesn’t charge me anything for the eSIM no matter how many times I move devices but they do charge for the physical SIM.
This is good as long as the carriers don't mess it up which odds are they would. 50 percent of the time when I change phones, it is a hassle to get Verizon to fix it and that is with a physical SIM
Do you know where I can read more about this? I am actually interested. I tried to check the X65 specs page on Qualcomm website but it just says multi SIM support and that’s the same term used for X60 and under.
Hmm...that's odd. They did a demo some time ago showing you can have up to 8 eSIMs configured on a phone (it was an Android device of course).
The device OS makers need to wrap their heads around how that will work (me, I think geofencing makes the most sense) - especially for people that travel as part of their jobs. Ideally you get pay as you go setup, so you're not paying ridiculous monthly fees.
This should have happened a long time ago (say, a year after the first cellular Apple Watch came out???). (getting rid of the physical SIM card slot).
I'd want some sort of industry standard between iOS and Android for transferring eSIMs quickly and painlessly.
Such as go into the settings of the device with the eSIM to be transferred. Select transfer and it pops up a QR code. On the receiving device you select receive and scan the QR code. An encrypted hardware handshake is initiated and the eSIM is transferred in a few seconds.
If the device with eSIM is damaged. You similarly should then be able to go to the carrier website. Find your eSIM and get a QR code. Which you can scan with your replacement phone. Where it will use WiFi or connect to one of the carrier's towers and get the eSIM. The eSIM option should be readily apparent and easy to find on the carrier's account landing page.
I know iPhone to iPhone is pretty easy. But Android to Android or iPhone to Android can be a pain. This should all be easy, standardized and not require extra steps to register a new phone with a carrier. As with regular Sims. You can just physically move it and keep going. Without dealing with the carrier.
Such as go into the settings of the device with the eSIM to be transferred. Select transfer and it pops up a QR code. On the receiving device you select receive and scan the QR code. An encrypted hardware handshake is initiated and the eSIM is transferred in a few seconds.
If the device with eSIM is damaged. You similarly should then be able to go to the carrier website. Find your eSIM and get a QR code. Which you can scan with your replacement phone. Where it will use WiFi or connect to one of the carrier's towers and get the eSIM. The eSIM option should be readily apparent and easy to find on the carrier's account landing page.
I know iPhone to iPhone is pretty easy. But Android to Android or iPhone to Android can be a pain. This should all be easy, standardized and not require extra steps to register a new phone with a carrier. As with regular Sims. You can just physically move it and keep going. Without dealing with the carrier.
For X60 and older, it's listed as "5G Dual SIM support." However, like any feature, it needs to be supported by iOS. With iPhone 13 and older, it was a hardware limitation. With iPhone 14, there hardware is there, but it's up to Apple to support it.
Why would you ever need new sim cards? You get one upon signing up for your carrier and use it forever. I swap phones all the time with the same sim card I've had for years. If you are buying sim cards, you are doing something wrong.
And connect via the 8 eSIMs at once?! iPhones since XS Max can have up to 10 eSIM profiles but only the 13 can connect to 2 at once.
Apple does weird stuff. Apple Watch can’t even roam yet despite supporting the bands used in almost every country. You also can’t use a North America bought watch in Europe/Middle East/Asia and the opposite also is true.
Judging how my eSIM for some reason only supports AT&T in my iPad but yet Verizon works as a physical SIM, I attest that I hate this move.
What you have explained is exactly how it works on my carrier. I get a QR code which is also always available on their app. I scan it on my iPhone and I am done. Same can also be done on Android.
If for whatever reason I delete the eSIM on my iPhone and their network doesn’t detect that the eSIM was deleted, I can just call them and ask them to drop the eSIM and instantly their app will show the QR code again and I can scan it even when overseas and have it working in a blink. That is something I actually done this summer.
Some carriers just like to complicate it. QR codes and how my carrier works is a part of the GSMA standard though. This was how it was supposed to be done.
It's proprietary. Several carriers have confirmed it does not meet GSMA standards.
You sure? Apple allows you to activate eSIM in 4 different ways.
1. Using carrier app if they support it where it downloads the eSIM profile for you
2. Auto discovery if your carrier added your iPhone EID to their system under your line
3. Use the server details and eSIM details which then connects and pulls it from their system
4. Using a QR code which you scan then your iPhone connects to their server and registers itself
That's my issue though. Is that while there is some support for this sort of thing. There needs to be an enforced standard. As sometimes it can be a big pain with carriers, take support calls or simply have a long delay before the switch occurs. It needs to be as quick as someone can grab an eject tool, eject the sim and pop it into another phone.
Wouldn’t that lock us out of certain carriers? My carrier I’m using now requires a Sim card. 
Wouldn’t that lock us out of certain carriers? My carrier I’m using now requires a Sim card.
Right now, yes it will but this will also motivate these carriers to move to eSIM specially if they already are Apple partners and authorized to sell Apple products.
It was a major pain to get the eSim operational on both my iPhone 12 Max Pro and 13 Max Pro with Verizon. They just needed a glass navel to see where they are going..... I have been with Verizon continuously since 1988.
I have a UK based SIM card in the iPhone 13 Max Pro that will be moved to the new iPhone. If Apple wants the iPhone to operate in other parts of the world or be called an international device, the actual sim slot is necessary.
Having the actual SIM card slot was imperative when traveling in the seven southern countries of South Africa on our road trip in 2019.
I have a UK based SIM card in the iPhone 13 Max Pro that will be moved to the new iPhone. If Apple wants the iPhone to operate in other parts of the world or be called an international device, the actual sim slot is necessary.
Having the actual SIM card slot was imperative when traveling in the seven southern countries of South Africa on our road trip in 2019.
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Citation needed. How is it proprietary? It works with Google Fi of all things and Google has deliberately not got themselves certified in any way. They are not listed as a carrier in iOS, and so don’t support 5G or Wifi calling, but it does work.
Also technically an eSIM could work the same way. One could pay with cash and receive a QR code instead of a physical SIM card. Not that I condone this, I still prefer they leave the physical SIM slot alone.
And I’m not sure what the article means saying there’s no nano-SIM in the box. There’s a SIM card slot on the phone, the SIM doesn’t come from Apple, and as of iPhone 13 Pro it works just fine.
If you have multiple carriers with eSIM, is it possible to switch back and forth still, like you can with physical sims?
You can store up to 10 eSIM profiles on one iPhone. They can all be the same carrier or different ones or a mix.
Need more? You can delete some and replace them with new ones. For me, that’s way better than carrying these tiny nano SIM cards which I often lose.
There’s a reason why hardware switch for wifi, Bluetooth, microphone and camera on some Linux phones exist, same for the physical SIM card. For physical sim, when it’s taken out, the phone has no way to connect to any tower except for sos depending on country. For esim however, you can turn it off in software, but there’s nothing preventing the OS to connect to surrounding tower every so often to check stuff and whatnot. Yes, esim allows Apple Watch cellular exist, but I also believe removing SIM card tray comes with its own cost. We just don’t know exactly what it is.
Id guess current esim provisioning process prevents cash esim from being a thing, since details must be downloaded from certain carrier somehow during activation, rather than information being stored on physical SIM card, carrier already know enough of your information to activate the network for you.