I'll be upgrading to the iPhone 15 Pro this month. My current iPhone 11 has a physical SIM with my cell plan on it. Since the iPhone 15 will no longer accept physical SIMs, how do I get my plan onto the new iPhone? Is this done automatically during setup or do I need to contact the carrier themselves or bring it into one of their stores?
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iPhone 14 Pro How do you transfer your cell plan from iPhone with physical SIM to iPhone with only eSIM?
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About eSIM on iPhone - Apple Support
Learn what an eSIM is, how to set up an eSIM on your iPhone, and how to transfer a physical SIM to an eSIM.
That should hopefully answer your question. For the most part its automatic without needing to contact the carrier.
"You can activate your eSIM while you're setting up your iPhone if your carrier supports eSIM Carrier Activation or eSIM Quick Transfer. With eSIM Carrier Activation, your carrier assigns an eSIM to your iPhone when you purchase it. With eSIM Quick Transfer, you transfer the SIM from your previous iPhone to your new iPhone without contacting your carrier. With either method, to activate your eSIM during setup, turn on your iPhone and follow the instructions."
Globally speaking, whether or not you can do this depends on which carrier your plan is through. All of the American carriers allow you to convert your plan to use an eSIM for free right on the device and they all support eSIM Quick Transfer. I did this with my American cellular plan, but unfortunately, as of right now, I cannot do the same with my Greek one. They currently can only handle eSIM-related tasks in their stores and charge a fee for the conversion if you are not using a postpaid plan. Also, the account must first be activated from the physical SIM before they can do the eSIM conversion. If you would like to be able to travel to any country and use a direct cellular connection as opposed to roaming, your best bet is to find a supplier based in a country where the iPhone models they get do have a SIM card slot.