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It's a beautiful country with a rich history. You can visit their Tier 1 cities, which are world-class. You can visit their natural wonders or historical monuments. All on their country-wide high-speed trains. If you're a girl, you can walk at night by yourself at 3am and no one would bother you. Super safe country - like all the East Asian countries such as SK, Japan, Singapore. People are also very friendly and they enjoy meeting foreigners. You should visit. No joke.

And while you're there, you can buy an iPhone with dual physical SIM cards.

I’ve made internet comments that while they were not derogatory, were not 100% flattering to China, so I am never setting foot on their soil. I believe 100% that they have a profile on me and every other American, due to breaching Equifax, Office of Management and Budget, etc etc.

It would probably be fine. There’s also a chance you would just disappear and never be heard from again. Not taking that risk.
 
Each transfer of the number to another device requires a visit to the operator's store.

Not true for all carriers but they do require interaction I would rather not have. I know some MVNOs will just show you a QR code on the website and you can hang on to that QR code the way you would a two factor QR code.

But Verizon requires you to call them, just for the one example I looked into.
 
I’ve made internet comments that while they were not derogatory, were not 100% flattering to China, so I am never setting foot on their soil. I believe 100% that they have a profile on me and every other American, due to breaching Equifax, Office of Management and Budget, etc etc.

It would probably be fine. There’s also a chance you would just disappear and never be heard from again. Not taking that risk.
Are you some important person? haha
 
I’m glad the article phrased it correctly, “forcing users to use an eSIM.” I can’t believe even Apple had the chutzpa to stand there and say “you no longer have to deal with a SIM card!”

That was the single most doublethink, blatant crap I have ever seen them say. We aren’t stupid, we know they actually mean “you can no longer use a SIM card” but they have to phrase it in that insulting way.
 
I’m glad the article phrased it correctly, “forcing users to use an eSIM.” I can’t believe even Apple had the chutzpa to stand there and say “you no longer have to deal with a SIM card!”

That was the single most doublethink, blatant crap I have ever seen them say. We aren’t stupid, we know they actually mean “you can no longer use a SIM card” but they have to phrase it in that insulting way.

Translation: you can only use operators that beg Apple to be supported...

Can they please fire everyone who has wet dreams about thinner devices? Looks like firing Ive wasn't enough.
 
Time marches on with Apple leading the way.

I remember the whine-fests when Apple got rid of the floppy disk and CDs. End times... with people preparing for the Rapture.
 

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A lot of MVNO’s in the UK don’t support eSIM yet.
They could pretty easily. They don't want to. The telco is the firm to blame, not Apple on this. We are in 2023, not 2003.

From the Telco company perspective, a physical sim improves customer retention and thus allow to gain more money on average per customer. It also makes the customer a little bit less sensitive to monthly price on average.
Once 1 or 2 major telco will promote esim, every competitors MVNO or not will follow gradually.
It was kind of the same story with the beginning of Apple pay with retail banks.
 
Super simple changing from one iPhone to another. Can't confirm about Android though.

I’ve done it succesfully a couple of times. It just requires that the eSIM is removed from the old device first and that your carrier doesn’t charge a separate fee for a new activation. Mine doesn’t, but I think at least some here in Finland do.
 
Now THIS really should be in the political forum. Taking away our SIM trays is just EXTORTION and CONTROL on EVERY LEVEL!

it started in the US, and now it’s infecting the rest of the world. Apple has no shame 😩

Edit: y’all. Please read satire. 🤣
 
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I love eSIM so I have no issue if they ditch the slot entirely as I haven't used it at all in the 14 Pro Max and never used it on the 13 Pro Max either. When upgrading from the 13 to 14 it even transferred my eSIM over to the new phone automatically without any hassle whatsoever.
 
A lot of MVNO’s in the UK don’t support eSIM yet.

Same in Canada.

Well, that’ll soon change. If MVNO wants to carry iPhone for sale, they have to support esim starting this fall from what I heard industrial rumor wise, no exception.

I stay in Thailand and had a Thai eSIM and an Indian eSIM. Last year my phone died from water exposure and I had to buy a new one. Of course I couldn’t transfer my Indian eSIM to the new phone and had to make do without it till I went to India again and got a replacement sim.

I hope they don’t remove the physical sim for Asian markets anytime soon.

Unfortunately that won’t be the case. Asian market will also follow suit likely this year. Especially in Japan, where phone scam are prevalent, and many happen by prepaid sims. Government might require all carrier to support esim only to combat the phone scams.
 
I stay in Thailand and had a Thai eSIM and an Indian eSIM. Last year my phone died from water exposure and I had to buy a new one. Of course I couldn’t transfer my Indian eSIM to the new phone and had to make do without it till I went to India again and got a replacement sim.

I hope they don’t remove the physical sim for Asian markets anytime soon.

I am in the same situation. I have a US eSIM and a Czech physical SIM as I own a rental property in Prague. To change anything with my Czech SIM, I need to go there so much prefer a physical SIM than I can move to a new phone, even if my phone dies. I find it easier to buy physical SIMs when traveling in less-travelled places too (Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Cuba, etc)
 
I'm not sure about other UK providers, but O2 have to post you the QR code (yes, seriously), which can take a week to arrive.

Upgrading my phone last year left me without service for several days as you can't (at least yet) migrate an O2 e-SIM from one phone to another. I'll plan ahead this time around and request the e-SIM in advance, but I won't hold my breath that it'll arrive without a reminder.
 
I have, I’m using e-sim in my 14 Pro since last year but I’m also traveling to undeveloped countries when only pphysical SIM cards are available. So it’s my only way to stay connected without carrying two phones.
And I suspect when you say “travelling to undeveloped countries”, although accurate for you, you might actually be being overly specific when looking at the wider picture where the “undeveloped” qualifier could in many cases be dropped. If they are like me then many travellers visiting any other country and needing a local number will not want to sign up for a contract but instead use a PAYG service and in quite a few developed countries, while every provider might offer an e-SIM on a contract, they don’t offer them (yet) for their PAYG options so, developed or undeveloped country, can be a barrier for a visitor only needing a local service for a few weeks.

If the network operators and NVMOs don’t react I wonder whether companies like Airalo might be able to fill the gap by adding a VOIP option to temporarily rent a local mobile number that can then forward calls to its client app using the data allowance on the data eSIM.
 
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