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Apple Removes SIM Card Tray on All iPhone 14 Models in U.S.
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So far the only solution to this problem is to subscribe to your carrier’s multi-sim service (monthly fee) and you will be able to have both an eSIM and a physical sim tied to your primary number where only one can be active. This of course may be a potential security risk having an extra physical sim tied to your primary number just laying around.
Did a quick google search and couldn’t find one. Unfortunately, looks like it’s a service provided by non-US carriers.
You can’t. Think of it as the new age of phones. iPhone XS being the first phone in existence.
You will have to buy a phone with eSIM and download your eSIM profile to it.
At least in the US, the majority of local carriers do support eSIM. It’s worse in countries like mine where even local eSIM support is non existent. Basically we buy “dual SIM” nano+eSIM iPhones for single SIM functionality.
The fact that in the USA the sim tray for all iPhones 14 has been deleted is not good at all. I'm traveling a lot and it is that simple to swap a sim card. I also use an iPhone 13 mini with e-sim and nano sim. And I know how it is in practice. In theory e-sim should be a burner. I'm so glad that I have an iPhone with tho physical sim cards. And guess what? I was searching for the new 14 with two sim cards. And after about 30 minutes I found it. A 14 Pro Max - A2896. So on my next trip to Brazil I'll take it with me. Here you can find it: https://www.tegcom.at/en-US/iphone-two-physical-nano-sim-usa.html
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The fact that in the USA the sim tray for all iPhones 14 has been deleted is not good at all. I'm traveling a lot and it is that simple to swap a sim card. I also use an iPhone 13 mini with e-sim and nano sim. And I know how it is in practice. In theory e-sim should be a burner. I'm so glad that I have an iPhone with tho physical sim cards. And guess what? I was searching for the new 14 with two sim cards. And after about 30 minutes I found it. A 14 Pro Max - A2896. Here I found my new iPhone with two physical sim cards:
It shoud arrive at the end of September so I can take it with me on my next trip to Brazil. I'll post some testimonials.
Apple iPhone with 2 physical sim cards. USA Ordering. The iPhone 14 Plus Pro Max A2884, A2888, A2892 and A2896.
iPhone 14 Plus Pro Max with two physical sim cards for the USA.
www.tegcom.at
It shoud arrive at the end of September so I can take it with me on my next trip to Brazil. I'll post some testimonials.
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I do have one concern about eSIM, though: the possibility that a "state actor" intelligence agency could quietly "tweak" the SIM data for nefarious reasons.
If you have that concern, you probably are not using a smartphone with constant internet connectivity anyway… 😂
eSIM is not new, it’s been there since the Xs and all cellular Apple Watch. Samsung and Google flagships also have eSIM.
I don’t think you need to contact the carrier. You convert on your 11, then on the 14, you do “Add eSIM” and hold the 11 close.
It is easy. Did my 13 ProMax to eSIM.
However I was having occasional connection issues and reverted back to standard SIM on AT&T’s advice.
Ok, I actually have that issue and all the secure phones use a physical sim. Prior to this I used a Blackberry Passport with Blackberry security and it all worked well. These days it’s the iPhone but that is getting iffy security wise. I may take my Pinephone just to see if it will connect to any of the major carrier companies. And by connect I mean technically - on T-Mobile the signal would drop between buildings in Manhattan. This would be easy as I could just change the sim for the iPhone to the Pinephone. However my regular number is eSim (international numbers are physical sim) and the Pinephone is sim so no go there.
Ok - so there is an eSim problem right there in the USA and not some third world country.
In many ways dropping 3G and embracing eSim (the Passport can’t work in the US anymore and if it could they would not let you connect anyway) is cutting back on American privacy in very real but subtle ways more than other countries (which is sort of the opposite you would think).
You might think I’m a bit paranoid, but trust me, there are people on this board just like me where this stuff matters.
Not even the carriers in the US have nailed eSIM. I keep seeing how people have issues with setup and even connectivity after setup. The ones saying, "well, this will force the carriers to adopt eSIM or do better" don't understand that it shouldn't be something where customers have to deal with the growing pains when there's been a longstanding alternative that works.
So whats the point of selling the US version without a SIM tray when every other country gets one?
Forced adoption to both consumers and carriers worldwide. Sometimes the tech needs to be "pushed" even if there are growing pains.
Perhaps it’s a further step to disconnect Americans from a better reality in other countries. If Americans knew that they have to pay roughly 10x more for internet, TV content, telephone services than people in EU, they could demand actual deregulation and price correction. The US infrastructure owners certainly do not want it to happen.
You go to your carrier and get a physical sim, get them to activate your line in it and put it into your old phone. But then you get your repaired phone back, carrier has to transfer to esim and then render your physical sim useless again. Don’t bother keeping it for next time though, it cannot be reactivated.
See how stupid that is? If your 14 had a physical sim you just move the chip rofl.
Amazing that for once Apple is valuing their non-US customers more than their home market.
That reminds me of the early CDMA phones that could be found in the US. They also came with "esim"
I find that utterly impractical. You fly into vacation, arrive in the terminal and when you try to buy a local sim card, you'll notice that the vendor in egypt/nepal/viet nam doesn't do esim.