iPhone 17 Pro Leak Reveals SIM Card Tray Might Live Another Year in Some Countries

We traveled through seven southern African countries tries a few years back. At the borders were chaps selling local use SIM cards. eSim is still not in their vocabulary. We had Apple iPhones with SIM card capability and thus were able to communicate. We had both the Verizon and the local SIM cards and could switch between them as needed. In the UK, the second SIM card was for O2 where I had a long time account.

Unfortunately, one has to be in the UK to activate an eSIM with O2. So, I have to use the latest Verizon international call plan for my wife whose family resides in the Uk. The prices have come down so it does not seem like a transfusion of two quarts of blood to Verizon....

I kept a 2013 iPhone mini (512GB) with SIM slot and eSIM and could start over with O2 next time we go over.

Or the better choice for travel because of our political situation in USA may be a dumb flip phone with no information one throws away before getting on the flight home....
 
WarmWinterHat said:
Not having a SIM sucks...

I used to take out my sim, until October when I bought my 16, and put in a flip-phone when I went backpacking or off-grid for several days, which I do several times per year. Can't do that anymore.

Now I leave it at home and take a pre-paid and my inReach.
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Why not use a cellular apple watch? Thats what I do
 
Most of these comments for the removal of the eSIM are purely American based. For example in the uk if you want to go have a sim only plan from the cheaper suppliers like smarty and libera, they only do physical sims. By removing the SIM card Apple know in many countries they will loose business. So from that point of view there is no valid reason to do this.
 
JCCA said:
This will never fully happen in the foreseeable future. China, for example, doesnt have eSims at all.
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China Unicom have had esims for at least 5 years, but not for smartphones, only data and iot devices. But this summer they have introduced a trial for smartphones for local citizens. But of course for large country like China, any widespread usage will take years before it will be the main form.
 
In France eSIM can be a real pain. Certain carriers (Orange not to say, which has the largest client base) requires in case you accidentally delete your eSIM to switch to a physical SIM before you can request a new eSIM. Hopefully selling eSIM only iPhones will make them update their archaic process.
 
I think the main point people miss in the comments is that carriers will always have poor eSIM compatibility, until Apple and Samsung force their hand. Like they did in the US.

The *only* way to get the world to adopt eSIM is to stop putting sim slots in phones. The first year will suck, but then it will quickly be an issue of the past.
 
walterwhite1 said:
By removing the SIM card Apple know in many countries they will loose business. So from that point of view there is no valid reason to do this.
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Except they did the same thing with the headphone jack and companies just had to pivot. Those other carriers would just need to start doing it Apple's way. I still think it would be a net negative, but Apple will see it as "innovation" and "courage."
 
walterwhite1 said:
Most of these comments for the removal of the eSIM are purely American based. For example in the uk if you want to go have a sim only plan from the cheaper suppliers like smarty and libera, they only do physical sims. By removing the SIM card Apple know in many countries they will loose business. So from that point of view there is no valid reason to do this.
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Even in Canada, although the main carriers support eSIMs, their cheaper pre-paid and some of their cheaper post-paid daughter companies do not support eSIM. And transferring eSIMs between Android <—> iPhone doesn’t work even on the major carriers.
 
Thank goodness. eSIMs are a royal pain in the rear to use. Blame carriers for poor policy but I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
 
eSIM cuts down a lot of fraud (SIM swapping, SIM hijacking, etc.) but as others have pointed out, because carriers have been lazy to properly support eSIM to its full potential, in some cases it's a drawback. And the lack of portability sucks.
 
kalafalas said:
Kill the sim slot already. It’s a GIGANTIC waste of internal space. Way more than the headphone jack ever was. More battery in the smaller models please!
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I agree and I think most people agree. I made a similar comment and there were so many people upset even thinking about having an outdated SIM slot AKA water leak port. The thumbs down representing their disdain for this outdated technology was reassuring.
 
beanbaguk said:
Thank goodness. eSIMs are a royal pain in the rear to use. Blame carriers for poor policy but I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
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Yeah, no kidding. It took me at least 25 seconds to install and activate my eSIM. I’d much rather go searching for a paper clip, fumble with some Sim drawer forgot which way to put it in then restart the phone. Yeah, that’s so much better. Heck while I’m at, I think I’m going to trade in my cell phone for one mounted on the wall with a cord 😂
 
ZipZilla said:
To each their own, but I'll never use a physical SIM again. eSIM allows me to fire my phone company and switch to another one within 5 minutes. MVNOs for life
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russell_314 said:
Yeah, no kidding. It took me at least 25 seconds to install and activate my eSIM. I’d much rather go searching for a paper clip, fumble with some Sim drawer forgot which way to put it in then restart the phone. Yeah, that’s so much better. Heck while I’m at, I think I’m going to trade in my cell phone for one mounted on the wall with a cord 😂
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Removing an nano-SIM tray from an iPhone offers literally no advantage to the end user. That nano-SIM tray does not prevent eSIM usage, and doesn’t even prevent dual eSIM usage for that matter.

OTOH, removing the nano-SIM tray provides several disadvantages for many users.
 
kalafalas said:
I think the main point people miss in the comments is that carriers will always have poor eSIM compatibility, until Apple and Samsung force their hand. Like they did in the US.

The *only* way to get the world to adopt eSIM is to stop putting sim slots in phones. The first year will suck, but then it will quickly be an issue of the past.
Click to expand...

Conversely, maybe everybody else is not interested in rushing to an eSIM only solution where it gives more power back to the carriers.
 
The real question is: on phones where Apple has ditched the SIM card tray, have they been able to make use of that internal space or is it sitting there empty until they eliminate the tray on every single phone?
 
B-Mc-C said:
The real question is: on phones where Apple has ditched the SIM card tray, have they been able to make use of that internal space or is it sitting there empty until they eliminate the tray on every single phone?
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AFAIK, the battery size for US and Canadian iPhones are exactly the same. US has no SIM tray. Canada has a SIM tray.

US iPhones have mmWave and Canadian iPhones do not, but that’s because Canada has no mmWave infrastructure, and has nothing to do with space inside the phone.

However, the battery shape (and thus capacity) may change with the 17 series dependent upon the presence or absence of the SIM tray, if sketchy rumours are to be believed.
 
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MrRom92 said:
Why do they still have a SIM? Seems very technologically backwards and out of date, it’s not the 1990’s anymore
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As others have mentioned the issue is wireless carriers around the world - many are still living in the dark ages by forcing you to go to store, wait in line, wait on hold for customer service etc in order to get a physical QR code in order to activate your eSIM! Whether it is lack of innovation or scrupulous carriers forcing their customers to visit a store so upgrade attempts can made it is what it is.

Until the majority of carriers support eSIM transfer the SIM tray lives on...
 
MrMaxwell said:
As others have mentioned the issue is wireless carriers around the world - many are still living in the dark ages by forcing you to go to store, wait in line, wait on hold for customer service etc in order to get a physical QR code in order to activate your eSIM! Whether it is lack of innovation or scrupulous carriers forcing their customers to visit a store so upgrade attempts can made it is what it is.

Until the majority of carriers support eSIM transfer the SIM tray lives on...
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Apple can fix this in one hardware generation. They make the change, the carriers follow suit or their customers are stuck with Android phones. At which point customers will promptly find another carrier.
 
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