Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
(Off-topic) Why is it that the Nothing Phone’s rear LEDs are shaped so eerily like the Apple logo?!
Never thought of it. But I will tell you the Nothing Phone 1 isn’t as sharp in the hand as the iPhone 14 Pro Max. I suppose that Apple will copy Nothing Phone external shape to eliminate the terrible feeling. I use both without cases.
 
I have a Galaxy Fold 4 also and enjoy a lot about it but iPhone is still my primary device. Wouldn’t be easy to switch as almost everyone I know is on an iPhone, I’ve an Apple Watch, Apple TV’s and so on.

Also work apps just work nicer for me on iOS also. Android isn’t bad, it’s just not as good to be honest. Apple will be screwing up though removing the SIM tray, especially as it’ll probably only be filled with a plastic block again rather than using the space for something meaningful.
 
I have a Galaxy Fold 4 also and enjoy a lot about it but iPhone is still my primary device. Wouldn’t be easy to switch as almost everyone I know is on an iPhone, I’ve an Apple Watch, Apple TV’s and so on.

Also work apps just work nicer for me on iOS also. Android isn’t bad, it’s just not as good to be honest. Apple will be screwing up though removing the SIM tray, especially as it’ll probably only be filled with a plastic block again rather than using the space for something meaningful.

For me it's a more even match-up. Some things are better on iOS (general app quality, Apple Watch), but some things like payments in grocery stores with loyalty cards work better on Android as no store over here supports loyalty cards on Apple Pay. Also in my non-Carplay non-Android Auto car setup my S23+ does a better job with navigation and music/podcast playback than my iPhone 13 Pro (FaceID is a nuisance there).

Currently my main SIM is in my iPhone, but I'll have to see what's the situation when the 15 series comes out. In Finland the iPhone prices received a major hike for the 14 series thanks to exchange rates and now it seems like we're due for another hefty increase. It could reach the point where the advantages of iOS no longer justify the price.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mr Todhunter
For me it's a more even match-up. Some things are better on iOS (general app quality, Apple Watch), but some things like payments in grocery stores with loyalty cards work better on Android as no store over here supports loyalty cards on Apple Pay. Also in my non-Carplay non-Android Auto car setup my S23+ does a better job with navigation and music/podcast playback than my iPhone 13 Pro (FaceID is a nuisance there).

Currently my main SIM is in my iPhone, but I'll have to see what's the situation when the 15 series comes out. In Finland the iPhone prices received a major hike for the 14 series thanks to exchange rates and now it seems like we're due for another hefty increase. It could reach the point where the advantages of iOS no longer justify the price.
I am willing to pay more, way more, just to have the physical SIM card option that you have. Truly worth it.

I do enjoy Android in my Nothing phone for basic stuff or anything related to Google services. But in reality, I type about 4x faster on iPhone, and anything other than Google apps work way better for me on the iPhone.

In the end, it’s a US-based company so the valuation of your currency can impact the price to you as you aren’t going to make more money just because your currency isn’t performing as well as the Dollar. I know investors who just invest in currencies every day. It’s quite amazing. I like Canon cameras and they have been much less expensive for me as the Japanese Yen has dropped versus the Dollar. It all comes back in the end. If China and Russia have their way, the Dollar will no longer be the standard in currency trades.
 
  • Like
Reactions: brgjoe
Removing the physical SIM slot, at least for the next iPhone model, is a really bad idea in my opinion. Take, for example, Greece. If you visit Greece and you want a cellular plan that is actually native to Greece, they do not, as far as I can tell from the Internet, issue eSIMs to prepaid customers. Only regular residents with postpaid plans can get issued an eSIM. Now, if you go online, you will find companies claiming to offer eSIM-based plans for Greece, but in reality, none of them are actually native to Greece and will cause your device to operate in roam mode. There is no native Greek eSIM-based plan from any of the country’s providers that a visitor can have issued as far as I can tell.
Well it’s not completely true. It just needs to be a European eSIM. No roaming charges.
IMG_9954.png

This is my point. They eliminated physical SIM in the iPhone 14 series in the USA. It has made travel a nightmare for me.

I believe Apple has done it to help US carriers make tons of cash from Americans traveling with their Us carrier plans which can cost more than $20 USD per day. Whereas most places have a physical SIM card that costs less than $20 and will last unlimited phone texts and data for a month or two.

All about the Dollar. Nothing to do with advancing anything else.

I used to pay Verizon $1500 per month while traveling internationally. Now I pay local SIMs and never add up to $100 USD per month.

It would be great if eSIMs worked as well as some Brag. But even my Thai eSIM only works when I go into a True location not at the airport with my passport. The eSIM could be better but the rules and etc are not. Not to mention all the carriers that don’t have them especially in developing markets.

Apple and the mighty dollar. I truly believe this is Tim and co pocketing some cash by US carriers to allow them to charge astronomical prices for roaming internationally. And those who are stuck without SIM slots just get screwed all the way around.

I actually messaged Apple support today and was told that I can buy an iPhone 13 or 13 mini or 12 series in the USA to get a physical SIM slot or just buy an iPhone in any country other than USA. The rep seemed really nice and stated that many people request this information and have had the same issues I have.
Well unfortunately it’s a question of terrible marketing as it’s a pain in the ass to find esims if you don’t know about it. But there exist sites where you can compare eSIMs available
IMG_9955.png
 
  • Haha
Reactions: ThailandToo
Well it’s not completely true. It just needs to be a European eSIM. No roaming charges.
View attachment 2235688

Well unfortunately it’s a question of terrible marketing as it’s a pain in the ass to find esims if you don’t know about it. But there exist sites where you can compare eSIMs available View attachment 2235689
Sure. That solves everything! Hahaha They all throttle and are extremely limited in days for more money than most countries cost getting a SIM at the airport that’s unlimited everything for a month or two.
 
Well it’s not completely true. It just needs to be a European eSIM. No roaming charges.
View attachment 2235688

Well unfortunately it’s a question of terrible marketing as it’s a pain in the ass to find esims if you don’t know about it. But there exist sites where you can compare eSIMs available View attachment 2235689
Like I said, I am aware of these. But, even though the EU is a free roaming union, it is still roaming and you may get at least slightly slower speeds than you would with a native plan. Now, this is fine if you will be constantly hopping from country to country and reliability in one country is not such a concern, but if you will be spending a very large amount of time in any one country, you will get the most reliable connection with a plan that is actually native to that country (that is, one where your device will actually be able to run in home mode instead of roam mode.)
 
sim is here to stay. it's like nintendo switch trying to get rid of cartridges and go 100% dlc... no thanks! the ease of switching sim cards across devices as well as inserting new ones will never be uprooted sorry
 
Removing the physical SIM slot, at least for the next iPhone model, is a really bad idea in my opinion. Take, for example, Greece. If you visit Greece and you want a cellular plan that is actually native to Greece, they do not, as far as I can tell from the Internet, issue eSIMs to prepaid customers. Only regular residents with postpaid plans can get issued an eSIM. Now, if you go online, you will find companies claiming to offer eSIM-based plans for Greece, but in reality, none of them are actually native to Greece and will cause your device to operate in roam mode. There is no native Greek eSIM-based plan from any of the country’s providers that a visitor can have issued as far as I can tell.

You are VERY wrong about Greece. I have a Greek prepaid e-sim from Cosmote in my iPhone 12 mini. My standard sim is swedish, because in sweden you cannot have e-sim if you use prepaid. I repeat: no problem with prepaid e-sim in Greece.
 
Specifically about Greece, I just dm'ed Cosmote on Twitter about this:

Screenshot 2023-07-26 at 11.41.47 AM.png

So you'll have to get a prepaid plan with a physical SIM card and go through the hassle of replacing that with an eSim at a Cosmote/Germanos store (I think the fee is 10 euros). Not sure if the rest of the providers have prepaid plans with eSim. Or you could bring one of those portable wi-fi hotspots with a sim tray. Obviously not the most elegant solution but it might work for you.
 
Specifically about Greece, I just dm'ed Cosmote on Twitter about this:

View attachment 2237465
So you'll have to get a prepaid plan with a physical SIM card and go through the hassle of replacing that with an eSim at a Cosmote/Germanos store (I think the fee is 10 euros). Not sure if the rest of the providers have prepaid plans with eSim. Or you could bring one of those portable wi-fi hotspots with a sim tray. Obviously not the most elegant solution but it might work for you.
Thanks! I have an iPhone model that can use a physical SIM. However, there is something else I need to find out which I have posted on this thread.
 
Thanks! I have an iPhone model that can use a physical SIM. However, there is something else I need to find out which I have posted on this thread.
I went through the reddit thread you mention in your other post, sadly I can't be of much help as I've never had to do that. I still think getting one of those portable hotspots would spare you of the tricky config, you'd just turn flight mode on, connect to the hotspot and use only data-based communication apps.
 
I went through the reddit thread you mention in your other post, sadly I can't be of much help as I've never had to do that. I still think getting one of those portable hotspots would spare you of the tricky config, you'd just turn flight mode on, connect to the hotspot and use only data-based communication apps.
But then you would have a slower connection as all traffic then has to pass through one more wireless block. The issue has nothing to do with the configuration of the Greek plan. It’s the American one that keeps connecting to the Greek towers even though roaming is supposedly disabled for this person. The fact that the American plan says “AT&T using Cellular Data” for the short times it has no cell service shows that it is in fact able to reach the AT&T Wi-Fi Calling server and COSMOTE is not blocking this traffic.
 
Yes, performance would be less than ideal. Still, one of the problems is you can't test any solutions until you actually get to GR. I wasn't able to find any similar threads in the quick googling I did and that thread is a year old, maybe it was something on iOS level that is now fixed. If your AT&T plan is in an eSIM, would it be feasible that you disable the eSIM altogether and just use the greek prepaid plan? I don't think it's feasible to keep "plan A" on, but force it to use data from "plan B", unless I am missing what you are trying to do.
 
Last edited:
Yes, performance would be less than ideal. Still, one of the problems is you can't test any solutions until you actually get to GR. I wasn't able to find any similar threads in the quick googling I did and that thread is a year old, maybe it was something on iOS level that is now fixed. If your AT&T plan is an an eSIM, would it be feasible that you disable the eSIM altogether and just use the greek prepaid plan? I don't think it's feasible to keep "plan A" on, but force it to use data from "plan B", unless I am missing what you are trying to do.
You can disable the American plan but you can only disable the entire plan, including Wi-Fi Calling, not just the cellular connection. What I am wanting to do is make it so the American plan would never even get any cellular service by having AT&T block roaming. Then it would have no choice but to use the data of the Greek plan to connect to AT&T’s Wi-Fi Calling server to send and receive calls and SMS/MMS messages. When one of your two plans is using the other plan’s data to connect to its Wi-Fi Calling server, that plan will display “[Provider] using Cellular Data.”
 
Last edited:
You can disable the American plan but you can only disable the entire plan, including Wi-Fi Calling, not just the cellular connection. What I am wanting to do is make it so the American plan would never even get any cellular service by having AT&T block roaming. Then it would have no choice but to use the data of the Greek plan to connect to AT&T’s Wi-Fi Calling server to send and receive calls and SMS/MMS messages. When one of your two plans is using the other plan’s data to connect to its Wi-Fi Calling server, that plan will display “[Provider] using Cellular Data.”
Ok, I get it now. I am still not sure how you'd go about doing that, maybe one of the more experienced folk here can help. I think the last comment in this thread is relevant ( ). If you decide to contact cosmote about this and English is not working well, I'll be happy to help with communicating in greek.
 
With not every carrier adopting eSIM for all customers, not supporting physical SIM gives so much less flexibility for travelers. On my recent trip to France, I got a prepaid physical SIM for 19.99 euros/month + SIM card cost of 10 euros, with the plan offering 210GB of 5G data in France, unlimited calls to many countries (not just Europe), and 35GB of data while roaming abroad including the US. I was pretty satisfied with their quality and value. If I had to go for an eSIM option, while available, the best choice I would have was 39.99 euros/month with 30GB of 4G data, apparently much less value than the one I got.

So I'm really glad that I bought my iPhone 14 Pro in Canada which still offers the physical SIM tray. If getting a new iPhone with physical SIM is getting more difficult because of their discontinuation in more countries, I would probably not buy an iPhone for years to come until almost all carriers around the world have adopted eSIM, including for prepaid users.
 
  • Like
Reactions: brgjoe
Same here, my work sim is not available with an esim on the carrier I'm on, also in general no carrier seems to support esims for PAYG here or in UK last i checked.
I recently bagged myself a cheap Lyca PAYG eSIM because AFAIK, that’s the only way to get EE via PAYG.

It‘s a backup SIM.
 
I was hoping UK move on to e-SIM before next iPhone since iPhone 14 but they pretty much done nothing at all whatsoever! If this continue same then I have to stay on my current iPhone. I am using EE Pay As You Go Data bundle. Right now no UK network (carrier) support e-SIM on Pay As You Go or any non-contract. Only way get e-SIM is contract and that paying lot more money and I do not want do this.
https://www.lycamobile.co.uk/en/order-free-sim/

They use EE now, so get a free eSIM and add a calls/texts/data bundle to it.
 
Ok, I get it now. I am still not sure how you'd go about doing that, maybe one of the more experienced folk here can help. I think the last comment in this thread is relevant ( ). If you decide to contact cosmote about this and English is not working well, I'll be happy to help with communicating in greek.
Well, I disabled International Day Pass and Pay-per-use, and AT&T even told me over the phone that they blocked roaming, and even turned both of those things on and off after I got here, and, well:

IMG_4238.jpeg


Will have to try calling AT&T again. It looks like I had someone who did not know what they were doing, just like that Reddit user.
 
What a fantastic way to give exclusivity back to the main-named providers so they can sell high-priced contracts. This smacks of the early days of iPhone sales where you had to pay a lot to play as you got tied into long contracts from a choice of only three providers.

Only five UK mobile providers offer eSims at all, including the big four (EE, O2, Three and Vodafone) and small provider Lycamobile, and only two of these let you switch directly to an eSim without first switching to a physical Sim card. People have been moving away from the parent provider's fixed contracts and opting for the sister companies that offer cheaper sim-only monthly rolling plans, and they don't offer eSims except for Lycamobile.

I haven't had an overpriced, fixed phone contract for 10 years and I'm not about to start - if this happens then no 15PM for me 😞. I choose to buy a phone from my retailer of choice and have the freedom to go to any sim-only offer that suits me. Apple already has too much control over how I can use my devices, I'm not about to be boxed into which network I can use as well.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.