Apple Removes SIM Card Tray on All iPhone 14 Models in U.S.

[jasonsmith_88]

While carriers have an incentive to offer e-sim, they have no incentive to do it well. I have posted this a couple of times but it’s worth noting that in Australia, for Optus (and possibly others) one must visit a store in-person during business hours to provision an e-sim, which also comes on a piece of cardboard and depends on physical stock. It is absolutely absurd and orders of magnitude less convenient than a physical sim. But there is zero incentive for them to improve the process. As long as they offer e-sim, that’s enough. No one is going to swap telcos because of a more convenient e-sim process. Instead, thousands of users per day have to simply accept that when they require a replacement e-sim it’s going to be a massive ordeal and they are going to be without service for days.

I also travel a lot to the UK. I think Three has just brought out e-sim, but I’m not confident they’re going to have a good self-service process either. To log into your Three account, you must receive an SMS OTP (no option for TOTP or hardware authentication). So if they end up offering self-service, it will only be possible to provision a new e-sim if your current phone is working and able to receive SMS. Just like Optus, a broken phone will require a physical in-store visit. Good luck if this happens overseas!

I’m glad the iPhone 14 in Australia and UK will still have a physical sim slot, but its days are obviously numbered, and that is a day I wholeheartedly dread.

 

[shazzam]

Unlike you and me, they are not living in the commoner's world.
This is totally ridiculous.
I am not paying $10 a day to AT&T when that same amount of money basically covers a whole week of unlimited call and data by popping in a local SIM card.

Google eSIM <country>. You will be surprised.

 

[shazzam]

While carriers have an incentive to offer e-sim, they have no incentive to do it well. I have posted this a couple of times but it’s worth noting that in Australia, for Optus (and possibly others) one must visit a store in-person during business hours to provision an e-sim, which also comes on a piece of cardboard and depends on physical stock. It is absolutely absurd and orders of magnitude less convenient than a physical sim. But there is zero incentive for them to improve the process. As long as they offer e-sim, that’s enough. No one is going to swap telcos because of a more convenient e-sim process. Instead, thousands of users per day have to simply accept that when they require a replacement e-sim it’s going to be a massive ordeal and they are going to be without service for days.

I’m reading it can all be done through the My Optus app?

 

[badatusernames]

I guess there will be no taking back one to Jamaica.

FLOW already has support for eSIMs in Jamaica.

Flow | Jamaica | eSIM

Flow | Jamaica | USE OUR eSIM TODAY TO EXPERIENCE OUR NETWORK YOURSELF.

discoverflow.co

 

[VictoryHighway]

I think people need to keep in mind the normal use case. For the majority of users, there is zero impact. For those who are impacted, the impacts should not last long, hopefully.

Let’s celebrate the good news of today, rather than constantly digging for something bad.

Tim, is that you?

 

[rui no onna]

Airalo offer prepaid data esims for use in the Philippines.

That's iffy if one needs to contact local cellphones.

Whenever we visit the Philippines, we actually get 2 SIMs (Smart & Globe) both for coverage and to take advantage of promos (unlimited calls/high minute allotment for Smart-to-Smart or Globe-to-Globe) when contacting friends and family.

We have an iPhone 11 that's been acting up after 15.6.1 update. After watching the keynote, I promptly ordered the iPhone 13 instead of waiting for iPhone 14 pre-orders.

 

[njn007]

Tim, is that you?

Just sharing an opinion I think many other have

 

[Mr. Dee]

FLOW already has support for eSIMs in Jamaica.

Flow | Jamaica | eSIM

Flow | Jamaica | USE OUR eSIM TODAY TO EXPERIENCE OUR NETWORK YOURSELF.

discoverflow.co

Thanks for that, I was reading an old thread on TechJamaica.

 

[kyeblue]

I don't like this at all, and my next new phone will certainly take a physical SIM card because I travel. Last month in morocco, I bought a $20 SIM card that gave me 15G data and 3hour local calls. Pop in, pop out. Very easy. Switch it back when I landed in NY. I has to be much more complicated if eSIM is involved, and I am not even sure how I can get my t-mobile service back the moment I landed at JFK.

 

[Jamie0003]

Samsung ad incoming in 3….2….1… followed by doing the exact same thing in a year

 

[kyeblue]

I’m reading it can all be done through the My Optus app?

do you need at least mobile service to use the app?

Yeah they added 5GB not too long back, versus just slow internet, and you'll get 5G if it's available. Adding even more argument against why even pay for a SIM change at-all.

Just back from Morocco, T-mobile data is very slow, almost unless.

 

[kyeblue]

I think the age of needing a local SIM is getting smaller and smaller. Personally, I travel a lot, and I use a VoIP company for a local number. (Instead of dual SIM/eSIM).

Someone has to push the boundaries; and is this case it’s iPhone 14. I also think people that travel will have already thought things like this out beforehand.

you can push the boundary, but what is the benefit of doing so?

 

[Jamie0003]

I was about to order iPhone 14 pro max, new Watch and Airpods Pro. Now without a physical slot I do not order any of them. I travel a lot.
May be you have different opinion, but for me Apple is over. i switch to Galaxy S23 , hope they in Samsung have brain not to follow Apple.

It’s Samsung. Of course they will follow apple. After a couple of ads taunting them about it

 

[jimthing]

This does two things:

1. Pushes non-US carriers to adopt eSim ASAP, as they know it's becoming mandatory to use for iPhones going forward, and they don't want iPhone users to not be able to use their networks, given the importance of the iPhone use on their networks.

2. More apps to easily/quickly set-up eSims globally. I've travelled and downloaded local carrier apps in order to buy & set-up an eSim without even having to go to a store, so they exist already – e.g. the US carrier T-Mobile I did back in 2019 in NYC (I'm in UK).


So really, looking at the bigger picture – in the short-term, a year of pain for US users who cannot use the physical options abroad, but in the longterm, eSim adoption becomes the global norm. And you'll either download an app to sign-up for a local esim service or pay for a non-plastic plain piece of card with a code on it to get a local esim service.

 

[iDento]

The only good thing I can think of out of this is that other countries have to adapt eSIM tech as fast as they can.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Yeah this was a big bunch of ******** and I was waiting for clarification if it applied to the Pro as well. You know, the one people use for work. With work provided SIMs.

Was considering a 14 Pro but I am voting with my wallet on this one. Literally the only thing Apple cares about anymore but too bad they probably won't correctly interpret the effect on sales, if any.

 

[bradl]

Yeah this was a big bunch of ******** and I was waiting for clarification if it applied to the Pro as well. You know, the one people use for work. With work provided SIMs.

Was considering a 14 Pro but I am voting with my wallet on this one. Literally the only thing Apple cares about anymore but too bad they probably won't correctly interpret the effect on sales, if any.

This shouldn't be an issue for you then. As someone who has had to provision phones for people at work, having to do it with an eSIM is a lot easier than having to call each time to swap devices because of the physical SIM. This now is no longer an issue.

BL.

 

[CarAnalogy]

This shouldn't be an issue for you then. As someone who has had to provision phones for people at work, having to do it with an eSIM is a lot easier than having to call each time to swap devices because of the physical SIM. This now is no longer an issue.

BL.

Maybe I'm madder about this than I should be. I'm not talking about my users, I'm talking about for me. I was handed a SIM to use as a data plan so I don't have to spend money on my own data. I already use eSIM for myself because it is indeed more convenient.

But now instead of just popping in the SIM card I've been handed, I have to figure out how to convert that to an eSIM on an account I don't have any control over.

Instead of just taking what works for everyone else, I have to be the problem one and ask for special assistance.

Which now that I think about it is the most Apple thing there is.

 

[seanbperiod]

Many MVNOs still don't support eSIM - and additionally, eSIM is limited to one line in concurrent use. Does the 14 allow 2 eSIM lines to be used concurrently?

 

[bradl]

Maybe I'm madder about this than I should be. I'm not talking about my users, I'm talking about for me. I was handed a SIM to use as a data plan so I don't have to spend money on my own data. I already use eSIM for myself because it is indeed more convenient.

But now instead of just popping in the SIM card I've been handed, I have to figure out how to convert that to an eSIM on an account I don't have any control over. Instead of just taking what works for everyone else, I have to be the problem one and ask for a special use case.

Which now that I think about it is the most Apple thing there is.

The bigger issue is this. If you were handed a sim card for a data plan, the problem is mixing your personal phone between work and personal use. The issue would then become who owns the data on your phone because of that boundary between personal and work has been crossed. Keeping those separate would have been a better option; yes, that would require carrying two separate phones, but having that inconvenience for the sake of keeping your personal data out of employer hands is a much better option.

Case in point: my employer had the policy of that you can use your personal phone for work, but in swapping the number over to be used for work, the employer would then one the phone number, in addition to the data on the phone a it was used for business/work purposes. Should you leave the company, they kept your phone and the data on your phone, as they now owned it.

Personal, Privacy, and security issues abound there, which is what should be avoided.

This sounds a bit more brutal to solve, but it may be better to buy the new phone, swap everything personal (including the SIM info) onto the new phone, put in the SIM card from your employer to your older phone, and continue that way.

BL.

 

[tfresquezdxs]

Just check the bands. You will lose mmWave for sure.
Pro tip:
- Hong Kong version has dual physical nano SIM support. Arguably the best iPhone version.
- Japan version has always on camera shutter noise, it cannot be silenced (due to local regulations) by any means.

please keep in mind that international iphones (especially the Chinese model) have different cellular band compatibility and may not work fully in all countries including USA (tmobile being at a big disadvantage with lack of 71 support on most International models)

 

[kp98077]

Strange decision by apple - how does this work if you change sims around different phones on the family?

 

[tfresquezdxs]

When Sprint and VZW were full-on CDMA, there was no SIM cards. IMEI transfers were a simple scan and execute. We kind of went backwards with SIM in the US when that was depreciated for LTE.

Also iPhone 14 supports dual-SIM. The way TM works is say you came from another country, you just download a prepaid Tmobile eSIM app in the store and sign up right in the app. No need to find some 7-11.

It was not simple at all. And incentives some to charge for this "feature"

 

[lartola]

Absolutely ridiculous. What if an American wants to travel to Indonesia and get a local sim?!

What if an Apple exec has to travel and gets a 1 week local travel sim for data

How is this practical, when you have to travel, and the world has not converted yet?! Smh

And you don’t have to travel that far to be inconvenienced: Mexico’s largest carrier, Telcel, still doesn’t support eSIM for the iphone (they only support it for the MotoRazr), it being the only one of Mexico’s big 3 carriers (Telcel, AT&T and Movistar) not to support it.

 

[CarAnalogy]

The bigger issue is this. If you were handed a sim card for a data plan, the problem is mixing your personal phone between work and personal use. The issue would then become who owns the data on your phone because of that boundary between personal and work has been crossed. Keeping those separate would have been a better option; yes, that would require carrying two separate phones, but having that inconvenience for the sake of keeping your personal data out of employer hands is a much better option.

Case in point: my employer had the policy of that you can use your personal phone for work, but in swapping the number over to be used for work, the employer would then one the phone number, in addition to the data on the phone a it was used for business/work purposes. Should you leave the company, they kept your phone and the data on your phone, as they now owned it.

Personal, Privacy, and security issues abound there, which is what should be avoided.

This sounds a bit more brutal to solve, but it may be better to buy the new phone, swap everything personal (including the SIM info) onto the new phone, put in the SIM card from your employer to your older phone, and continue that way.

BL.

I get it but trust me it's not that complicated for me. There's no personal vs work data involved, it's simply using the Verizon data for free, as well as a hotspot for my work laptop (also owned by me) rather than spending my own money on my personal data plan. Not a matter of what's on the phone, simply what passes through it.

It probably wouldn't be that hard but now I have to go to my boss, who already takes every chance he can to rub in how much better Samsung is, to get an eSIM.

Now if I wanted to just pop it into an iPad or hotspot instead, that's not an option anymore.

There are many downsides. The only upside Apple could come up with is "your poor stupid brain doesn't have to hurt itself dealing with SIMs anymore." That's not even the best argument that could be made. But Apple did it anyway.