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That’s already happening and several people have complained about it in this forum.

The other part of the explanation that I forgot to mention is that Apple seems to believe that international travelers are a small minority of the US user base not worth caring about. Thus, under that assumption the vast majority of the US users would be unaffected by the lack of a SIM tray. And it seems to be a safe assumption: indeed the vast majority of americans don’t travel outside their country. Selling the iphones without a SIM tray would harm a lot more users, and hurt sales much more, in other regions of the world than it does in the US.

Also, there may have been some kind of agreement between Apple and the US Carriers because it actually benefits them: if international travelers can no longer buy a local prepaid SIM wherever they go, at least for now they’ll have no choice but to use roaming.
I think the latter would make more sense. The tray-less phone has a plastic ”filler” part to populate the empty space in order to retain structural robustness. In manufacturing alone it is always more cost effective to have a single variant.
 
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eSim adoption has to start somewhere.. This year it is US, next two years likely worldwide.

I travel to the UK and beyond about 6 months of the year. I just added an EE eSim without any issues. For my iPad I go prepaid eSim with Airalo. Not the big issue that is being portrayed.

I also switched to T-Mobile, so I’ll likely drop EE on that side as well.
 
It could be that Apple has a plan for the space where the p-Sim used to be ya know? Currently, there is a spacer in the spot. Hmmmmm
 
It could be that Apple has a plan for the space where the p-Sim used to be ya know? Currently, there is a spacer in the spot. Hmmmmm
Actually that spacer is just a sign that the decision to take out the SIM slot on a U.S. phone is just an arbitrary decision. If they need more space in the next version of the iPhone, they'll just design it in.
 
Aye, but unlike a horse and buggy where the car was superior in every way, a SIM and an eSIM are functionally equal. Just because something is newer doesn't mean it's better.
I can signup at 3am with any eSim provider and be up and running in 5 minutes. Not waiting on the post to bring a SIM card.

Less e-waste as well.. the reality is it will all be eSim in short time
 
Less e-waste as well.. the reality is it will all be eSim in short time
10 years maybe. There's still a lot of telco's without the infrastructure and expertise in place, and I don't really see a problem with that, unless you sell eSIM only phones.

Anyway, I don't really care personally, I don't travel a lot, but that's where the eSIM falls down. (with travelers.) They could have left the SIM slot in place for US phones, and still use eSIMs, and I really don't like taking functionality away when it's still being used...
 
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eSim adoption has to start somewhere.. This year it is US, next two years likely worldwide.

I travel to the UK and beyond about 6 months of the year. I just added an EE eSim without any issues. For my iPad I go prepaid eSim with Airalo. Not the big issue that is being portrayed.

I also switched to T-Mobile, so I’ll likely drop EE on that side as well.

Certain locations for travel do work. Far too many do not.
For in the US, there are a number of carriers who cannot currently handle eSIM.
I suspect you are unintentionally understating the issue based on personal experience.

It does have to start somewhere. I personally think this was premature by Apple.
 
10 years maybe. There's still a lot of telco's without the infrastructure and expertise in place, and I don't really see a problem with that, unless you sell eSIM only phones.

Anyway, I don't really care personally, I don't travel a lot, but that's where the eSIM falls down. (with travelers.) They could have left the SIM slot in place for US phones, and still use eSIMs, and I really don't like taking functionality away when it's still being used...

Have the carrier push eSIM - charge for a SIM card but not for eSIM - and in a year or two we would be in a much better place for this.
 
eSim adoption has to start somewhere.. This year it is US, next two years likely worldwide.

I travel to the UK and beyond about 6 months of the year. I just added an EE eSim without any issues. For my iPad I go prepaid eSim with Airalo. Not the big issue that is being portrayed.

I also switched to T-Mobile, so I’ll likely drop EE on that side as well.
It’s such a minuscule issue that the rest of the world got a sim tray. Failed try.
 
It could be that Apple has a plan for the space where the p-Sim used to be ya know? Currently, there is a spacer in the spot. Hmmmmm

Or it could be that Apple has an agreement with the US Carriers. The carriers happen to be the ones that benefit the most from this move, at least for now, since international travelers who can no longer buy local prepaid service where they go, due to eSIM not being available or easy to get, will be forced to use international roaming with their US carrier.
 
Or it could be that Apple has an agreement with the US Carriers. The carriers happen to be the ones that benefit the most from this move, at least for now, since international travelers who can no longer buy local prepaid service where they go, due to eSIM not being available or easy to get, will be forced to use international roaming with their US carrier.
Which one of the 190 countries would you like to visit?
 
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It’s such a minuscule issue that the rest of the world got a sim tray. Failed try.

I see it more as a warning from Apple: this year it was just the US iphone that was eSIM only, next year it will be worldwide. And carriers understood it and have started reacting: now they’re about to start supporting eSIM in egypt after years of refusing. And Mexico’s largest carrier Telcel, which has refused to activate any iphone eSIMs for 4 years, is about to officially announce that they will start activating them on sep 30th when iphone 14 goes out for sale in Mexico. In fact, they’ve already activated a few US iphone 14’s, as a video on twitter has showed. And just like those two examples, there are probably lots pf others. It is making carriers who persistently refused to use eSIM relent.
 
Which one of the 190 countries would you like to visit?

I know there are prepaid data SIMs, but many of the travelers, especially those going to Asia, need voice and data not just data. and eSIMs that support voice and data service aren’t as readily available outside the US.
 
Or it could be that Apple has an agreement with the US Carriers. The carriers happen to be the ones that benefit the most from this move, at least for now, since international travelers who can no longer buy local prepaid service where they go, due to eSIM not being available or easy to get, will be forced to use international roaming with their US carrier.
What is your idea on why Apple is being so nice to the Carriers? What does Apple have to gain by doing this? Tit for Tat? Thoughts?
 
I know there are prepaid data SIMs, but many of the travelers, especially those going to Asia, need voice and data not just data. and eSIMs that support voice and data service aren’t as readily available outside the US.
Why on earth would you want a new voice number when traveling? Get a data sim and use WhatsApp (or WeChat if China)
 
Why on earth would you want a new voice number when traveling? Get a data sim and use WhatsApp (or WeChat if China)

Makes people wonder why they just don't use FaceTime Audio when overseas.. I mean, it comes native on their phone.

But I digress; apparently, I have no credibility when it comes to things like this, because despite working in the telco field for 25 years, some users here seem to know better than me.

BL.
 
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Why on earth would you want a new voice number when traveling? Get a data sim and use WhatsApp (or WeChat if China)

From what I read in these forums, some of the people who travel for business need to contact people in those countries they travel to, and it’s easier with a local number. Also, in some countries such as Taiwan they have to send a SMS as part of the admission process to enter the country. Doesn’t work with a foreign number, and for SMS to work it needs to be a voice and data SIM, not just data. Just some of the things I’ve read here, not that it’s an issue for me personally, I rarely if at all travel internationally anymore.
 
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There are services in some countries that require an actual voice phone no. If it were that simple we wouldn't have reached 34 pages of this discussion.
The reality is that the SIM card will be dead in a couple of years. The goo thing, there are other phones (for now) that will allow a physical SIM.

This thread is filled with users complaining about why it "will not work"with fringe use cases.

eSim is here to stay, whether you can work with it or not will be your problem. Thinking Apple has some nefarious "side deal" with carriers to somehow profit from this is downright silly./
 
The reality is that the SIM card will be dead in a couple of years. The goo thing, there are other phones (for now) that will allow a physical SIM.

This thread is filled with users complaining about why it "will not work"with fringe use cases.

eSim is here to stay, whether you can work with it or not will be your problem. Thinking Apple has some nefarious "side deal" with carriers to somehow profit from this is downright silly./
Since you are replying to me, where did I even imply this in my response?

You can mock people for not being able to work around this problem and be condescending all you want, I know what to call people like you.
 
Since you are replying to me, where did I even imply this in my response?

You can mock people for not being able to work around this problem and be condescending all you want, I know what to call people like you.
Much ado about nothing... complaining for the sake of complaining.

How are YOU impacted?
 
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