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Apple Hints at iPhone 17 Models Lacking SIM Card Slot in More Countries
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iPhone 13 and later: eSIM + eSIM or pSIM + eSIM.
iPhone Xs - iPhone 12: eSIM + pSIM.
I see this as a good thing.
Removing the SIM tray in all future devices simplifies manufacturing, since every phone can use the same frame instead of producing separate versions with and without the tray.
Removing the SIM tray in all future devices simplifies manufacturing, since every phone can use the same frame instead of producing separate versions with and without the tray.
Lebara do have some great deals. I hope the move to eSIM comes in time if Apple do head in this direction. My MVNO I'm with is Talkmobile who still have real people answering the phones and the deals seem to get better every year.
Can’t you just call the carrier in that country & have them switch it in your new phone?
In Australia, we have issues with e-SIM's on our Business plan at work, something always goes wrong. We have gone back to using physical sims.
At this moment it’s not possible as far as I know. I have a sim of Turkcell (Turkey). Maybe in the near feature? And from my experience: to activate an eSIM, you need to be connected to the cellular of that specific country.
oooh ooh i know the answer to that one.
About 200M iphones sell each year; about 3/4 of those outside of thina. A solid 150M
If a dual sim slot adds about 20 cents of cost to every iphone made (pretty conservative) then that's 30 million dollars a year. Sounds like a lot of money, but apple probably spend more than that on toilet paper each year. Either way some exec gets a bonus for that decision.
This is a great example of where focusing on margin and shareholder value is to the detriment of the consumer. The dual slot is strictly better than the single slot, there's no downsides; only upsides; it'd barely cost anything per unit. But to eck out that extra 0.003% profit margin; they'll do it.
Came here to say just that. There's no space saving anywhere until they universally make the switch. As long as the SIM tray exists in some countries, that space is still reserved in the countries without it. Only reason to do it incrementally like they did is to save on material cost. That tray and mechanical bits are small, but that adds up over the millions of devices produced.
Last time I used an eSIM it was a nightmare, much better to just stick a physical one in and have it working within 30 seconds.
Some markets (like China, Hongkong, Macau, others) the government does not allow eSim. So as long as Apple is selling in those markets, there will be at least two housing versions.
This move seems like Apple's in bed with US carriers. It only makes people who are upgrading lives more difficult, and gives the carriers a great new opportunity to upsell someone on a nice, new shiny contract. Good god, I hate phone carriers so much. I've seen a salesman take advantage of my 60 year old father selling him a unlimited data contract because they told him that unlimited minutes = unlimited data. And "no other plans had unlimited minutes". Salesmen are scummy. And take advantage of the elderly.
that's always been my belief too.
Down here in aus, only the main carriers support esim, very few MVNOs have them; and they're a point of differentiator as to why you have to pay 2-3x as much to go with a major carrier.
I'd guess and say they'd lobby hard to get apple to make it esim only in aus.
That is one hell of a scummy salesman tricking your old father thinking “unlimited data = unlimited minutes” even though technically speaking it is true if he uses apps like WhatsApp Google Voice or similar.
And then after your father used the phone app (on a phone I know, surprise) to make some calls to families and friends, he would be slapped with a very expensive bill at the end of the month because he made “phone calls” rather than “internet phone calls”.
National security bs or alike. Either way, China will be a thorn in Apple’s side trying to remove SIM card tray.
I think the possibility of the iPhone 17 and later models getting the ability to support up to 16 eSIM "images" locally stored (and two active) could become reality. Getting rid of the SIM slot means more internal space for the battery and/or more internal electronics.
Just somewhat curious which low cost carriers in Canada... In the end, all cellular networks are one of the three I think... Bell, Telus, Rogers, and the parent companies support eSIM.
I feel this option has been warranted for some time, though I see cellular networks likely want to fight it as much as possible to help ensure some sort of lock to their services.
I understand why some people remain adamant about keeping a physical SIM, there are still too many unsupported carriers out there, even in developed economies. But it’s worth remembering that eSIM isn’t some brand-new technology. The first iPhones to support it were the Xs and Xr, released *checks notes* seven years ago!
I still remember how frustrating it was to get a local SIM in the past. On a trip to Europe in 2019, I landed in Germany and purchased an O2 SIM card at a local store and then spent half an hour activating it by downloading the Deutsche Post’s app and doing a video call with my passport at hand to verify my identity. Compare that to today, where you can just download one of the many, many, eSIM apps and get service the moment you land.
For context, I’m from Colombia, a developing economy, and here every major MNO and most MVNOs will hand you a QR code for your eSIM as soon as they verify your identity. With some carriers it’s even easier: one of the big ones uses Apple’s eSIM Quick Transfer, while others rely on their apps. If that’s the standard here, there’s no excuse for carriers in developed markets to still drag their feet.
There's no excuse for MNOs and MVNOs to not offer an eSIM by now, and If anyone can push them to adopt it, it’s Apple. In the US, most -if not all- of them, did it.
I still remember how frustrating it was to get a local SIM in the past. On a trip to Europe in 2019, I landed in Germany and purchased an O2 SIM card at a local store and then spent half an hour activating it by downloading the Deutsche Post’s app and doing a video call with my passport at hand to verify my identity. Compare that to today, where you can just download one of the many, many, eSIM apps and get service the moment you land.
For context, I’m from Colombia, a developing economy, and here every major MNO and most MVNOs will hand you a QR code for your eSIM as soon as they verify your identity. With some carriers it’s even easier: one of the big ones uses Apple’s eSIM Quick Transfer, while others rely on their apps. If that’s the standard here, there’s no excuse for carriers in developed markets to still drag their feet.
There's no excuse for MNOs and MVNOs to not offer an eSIM by now, and If anyone can push them to adopt it, it’s Apple. In the US, most -if not all- of them, did it.
For example, AFAIK Good2Go Mobile (formerly Petro-Canada Mobility) doesn’t support eSIM unless something has changed recently. It runs on the Rogers network.
Mind you these days if I were looking for a carrier, I wouldn’t pick Good2Go. I’d say it’d mainly be for people who were already on Petro-Canada.
Well that was a rabbit hole...
Good2Go in the US does support esim... checking the Canadian site, -it certainly looks messy-, with no explicit option, just instruction on how to activate purchased sim cards. There's obscure reference to the 3G network being disabled, and free move to Lucky (Bell), with option for esim from their site though.. Kind of reads like the services are in a bit of a change.If this does occur, certainly requires hope that the country you are bound to has an option for sure.
Uh yeah, if you're using Petro-Canada (or Speakout or any of these third rate MVNOs in Canada), you're likely not a customer on the cutting edge of technology so a physical SIM in an existing phone will stay as is. But, technology has to move forward. No reason to use up space in a phone for nothing more than a piece of plastic containing a bit of network authentication code. Transition to eSIM has taken longer than it should have. All major Canadian carriers have simplified eSIM transfers, iOS 26 allows iOS <> Android quick transfer and Android 16 does as well. The time has come.
As also mentioned, eSIM transfers from Android to iPhone and vice versa are a problem. Even iPhone to iPhone can be a problem. That is not a problem with physical SIM cards. With eSIMs it often means paying money to get a new eSIM with the new device.
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