There are carriers that let you switch between phones by downloading a new eSIM, without having to contact them.
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Apple Has Considered Removing SIM Card Slot From Some iPhone 14 Models
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Cromulent
macrumors 604
If Apple came out with eSIM-only phones, it would force the carriers to support eSIM immediately. No carrier would want to lose the iPhone market share.
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
It's a little more muddled than that
Consumers would be mad at carriers and Apple and it might even hinder new iPhone uptake if there is concern about carrier compatibility and flexibility of the device if one needs to move in the future.
Just "doing it" isn't all great for Apple themselves
Cromulent
macrumors 604
Fair point. Having said that, someone has to be a first mover; otherwise, the situation will stay in limbo for years to come. Apple, the most expensive company in the world, probably has the resources to handle a couple of years of uncertainty.
joshen
macrumors regular
It's true that a lot of them easily let you create new profiles from their app. But many still don't. I should've said all carriers*.
Good luck doing that in the UK. The major carriers are hell bent on refusing to support esims. Most wont allow their MNVO's to use it at all.
Mobile+ coming soon for a low low price of $500 a month for 100mb data, or $1500 for 200mb!
Cromulent
macrumors 604
EE, Vodafone, o2, Truphone and Ubigi all support eSIM in the UK.
Find wireless network providers and worldwide service providers that offer eSIM service on iPhone – Apple Support (UK)
An eSIM is a digital SIM that allows you to activate a mobile data plan from your network provider without having to use a physical nano-SIM. Find out which wireless network providers in your country or region offer mobile plans on an eSIM, either activated by eSIM Carrier Activation, eSIM Quick...
blairh
macrumors 604
But how would you switch from an USA eSIM to an Italian eSIM?
JippaLippa
macrumors 68000
I hope they'll wait for next year.
I'm with a fairly new but amazing carrier which, however, doesn't support eSIMs yet (it soon will).
I'm with a fairly new but amazing carrier which, however, doesn't support eSIMs yet (it soon will).
JippaLippa
macrumors 68000
I think only vodafone supports eSIMs in Italy.
Iliad still doesn't (it soon will), TIM I'm not Sure.
I don't know the others (Wind, HO), but they're quite less popular than the aforementioned carriers.
Most consumers have been buying phones locked to a single carrier for ages anyways. Remember everyone mad at Apple for removing the floppy disk drive, old USB ports, etc? It’ll be fine. Carriers have had at least a couple of years to roll out eSIM support. The ones who still haven’t simply need to be forced, and it’s time.
The phone can store multiple eSIMs and you can turn them on and off on a whim. You can enroll in a carrier’s eSIM just by downloading their app and signing up. Just did this with the T-Mobile 90 day test drive the other day, it was a piece of cake. Thought it would break one of my eSIMs, since I already had two active, and it simply let me turn one of them off. Then I turned off the T-Mobile test drive eSIM and turned my other one back on. Pretty cool stuff. The X65 in the iPhone 14 technically even supports more than two active at any given time.
I've long bought unlocked. And now, at least within the UK, locking is banned.
The UK's mobile networks are to be forbidden from selling phones locked to their services from December 2021.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54692179
trekkie604
macrumors 68000
This is stupid. My carrier supports esim but you have to pay $25 for it and it can only be used once. So if you need to swap between phones it's $25 each time lmao.
00sjsl
macrumors regular
But for budget carriers that would mean extra costs which would have to be passed on to the customer.
Apple Watch actually has its own phone number, but through carrier magicry, calls get routed to both phone numbers (really isn’t too different from a call forwarding system). And then when you make calls out from the Watch it’ll caller ID spoof so that it’s not the actual phone number on the Watch but your phone number on your iPhone (Not really spoofing because you still own the number it’s using, but it’s the same idea, use a different number than the actual number).
Also I think SMS doesn’t actually go to the Watch either, it just syncs SMS over data to your iPhone, I don’t think you can do SMS in the usual way with the Watch (sending and receiving directly). What’s hilarious is that I use AT&T and to use 2-factor sign ins on their app they give an option to send an SMS to my Watch phone number, but that SMS never reaches my Watch, it just goes to a black hole. So I have to make sure I have my iPhone phone number set for 2 factor.
So, that's not exactly true.
SIMs are not inherently more private than eSIMs.
The reason why in your own experience you've had to provide personal info is because that's the route your carrier has chosen. There are plenty of eSIM services that allow you to download the eSIM with no information (or you can just put fake information).
If carriers want to sell ready-to-go prepaid eSIMs, they can do so. Nothing prevents them from selling a plastic card with a QR code which can then be scanned and activated right away.
Chazak
macrumors 6502a
No discussion of how dual SIM set up would work? Currently, one of my lines is an ESIM and the other physical SIM. Wondering how they would work this to preserve the feature.
Apple has internally discussed the idea of launching some iPhone models without a SIM card slot by next year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said the move would be part of Apple's push towards eSIMs.
Edit: I now see the suggestion is the phone will be able to handle dual ESIMs
switz
Contributor
If the iPhone 14 Pro Max has only eSims, I cannot load a UK O2 eSim unless I am actually in the UK.
Fortunately I can step back many years and use my iPhone 13 mini as a second phone. I carried two phones for years in the UK before eSims.
Having both an eSim and regular sim is the best option for International travel to third world places for my British wife and me.
Fortunately I can step back many years and use my iPhone 13 mini as a second phone. I carried two phones for years in the UK before eSims.
Having both an eSim and regular sim is the best option for International travel to third world places for my British wife and me.
In reality only Vodafone and EE support it. Truphone and Ubigi arent network operators, they're virtual.EE, Vodafone, o2, Truphone and Ubigi all support eSIM in the UK.
Find wireless network providers and worldwide service providers that offer eSIM service on iPhone – Apple Support (UK)
An eSIM is a digital SIM that allows you to activate a mobile data plan from your network provider without having to use a physical nano-SIM. Find out which wireless network providers in your country or region offer mobile plans on an eSIM, either activated by eSIM Carrier Activation, eSIM Quick...support.apple.com