iPhone 17 Just a rant about the disappearance of the physical SIM from the iPhone 17

[PPCmike]

This used to be the case in the Philippines as well. There's been eSIM support since 2018 but only for expensive postpaid plans.

The situation hadn't really changed until a year after the first eSIM-only iPhone (US iPhone 14) was released. The Philippines got its first prepaid eSIM in 2023 (same rates and promos as prepaid physical SIMs) with the rest of the prepaid carriers following in 2024 and 2025.

Is the Iphone 16 esim only in the Philippines?

 

[turbineseaplane]

Indeed. One of them over here is playing games where some eSIM-only phones are treated as "premium" and they won't let you activate cheap plans on them. Meanwhile with the physical SIM you can activate whichever plan you like, and put it in whatever phone you like.

This is exactly my issue with it.

We are being taken back in the direction of the awful CDMA days and being at the discretion of carriers and what device/plan combinations they care to allow and the prices they want to charge, etc.

How anyone is advocating for this is beyond me.

I have nothing against eSIM as an option on device, but we should also want a physical SIM slot for the flexibility and control it affords us as users.

 

[rui no onna]

Is the Iphone 16 esim only in the Philippines?

No. They're still physical SIM+eSIM including the iPhone 17 series. So far, the iPhone Air is the only eSIM-only model officially sold in the Philippines.

iPhones are more expensive in PH though. I remember checking before and the Pros were like $200 more than US prices.

 

[rui no onna]

This is exactly my issue with it.

We are being taken back in the direction of the awful CDMA days and being at the discretion of carriers and what device/plan combinations they care to allow and the prices they want to charge, etc.

How anyone is advocating for this is beyond me.

I have nothing against eSIM as an option on device, but we should also want a physical SIM slot for the flexibility and control it affords us as users.

In fairness, this isn't really an issue in the US anymore. The same plans available for physical SIM are also available on eSIM. I think pretty much all the US prepaid carriers support eSIM now.

Surprisingly, switching prepaid carriers with number porting seems quick and easy via eSIM. I was able to buy an eSIM and port my number from Google Fi to Tello in 15 minutes right from the comfort of my couch.

But yes, having both a physical SIM slot and eSIM is good.

 

[Nermal]

We are being taken back in the direction of the awful CDMA days and being at the discretion of carriers and what device/plan combinations they care to allow and the prices they want to charge, etc.

I remember when pretty much the only smartphone we could get over here was the HTC Vogue. It came with Windows Mobile 6.0, and an upgrade to 6.1 was available officially. Meanwhile in the US they got 6.5, and I know that some people actually hacked the Sprint firmware onto their NZ-model Vogues. Of course with an iPhone you can install the latest compatible OS no matter which country you're in or who you bought the phone from.