Upgrading Verizon iPhone SE 2 to Unlocked iPhone 13 Pro

[dufftop]

I'm confused (somewhat).

I have: iPhone SE 2 and Apple Watch SE (cellular) on an old Verizon plan (Small 1GB with Hotspot - 4G LTE I guess)

I just bought: iPhone 13 Pro from Apple directly (unlocked) - didn't do the carrier special upgrade thing. Thought maybe if I just bought the phone directly I could bypass Verizon's BS. Maybe I made a mistake out of ignorance.

I've never bought an unlocked iPhone. My question(s) are about the sim. I plan on upgrading my line(s) to a new unlimited plan (sigh). My old plan is 4G LTE. It's all the SE 2 can do. My current sim will work in the new phone (according to Verizon chat), but I guess I need a 5G sim if I want to receive the benefits of 5G ($$$) on the new plan.

Could I: Put the old SE 2 sim in new iPhone 13 Pro, activate the new phone, transfer data (after unpairing Apple Watch, backing up old SE 2, etc.) and just carry on until I get a new sim from Verizon (I asked chat rep if I can go to local store and just get one - she said yes, it's free).

Or: Should I go get a new free 5G sim from the store and wait for the new 13 Pro to arrive before I do anything? Does it matter? Get a new one, throw the old one in the trash before totally deactivating the old SE 2 from Find My, etc?

What steps should I take to do all this and in what order? I know it shouldn't be that much of an issue, but I've never done this before, just usually trade in for an activated phone in the past. Never bought one outright unlocked.

BTW - I trust MacRumors moreso than Verizon for advice

 

[Sunset Cassette]

Hey there, I work as a cell carrier rep so I think I can speak from some experience here.

Your SIM from the SE 2 will work just fine in the 13 Pro, and unless Verizon has some proprietary technology I'm not familiar with, you shouldn't even need to change the SIM in order to take advantage of the 5G capabilities of the 13 Pro. If you do have an older SIM that has been transferred across a few devices previous to your SE 2, you may still want to replace it anyways as over several years of usage they can start to degrade which can impact service quality.

In the event that you aren't able to get 5G connectivity on the 13 Pro after swapping your SIM, just do as they advised and visit a store when it's convenient for you to swap out for their new SIM. Hope this helps you out!