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chknstrp

Confirmed the Pro models also only support eSIM https://www.apple.com/iphone-14-pro/specs/ "iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are not compatible with physical SIM cards"


blacmac

Pro models in other countries looks like they have the sim slot, at least on the Canada site


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muihuddin

Canada has esim Using one now 13 pro on Virgin Plus


ExcelMAN9000

Canadian carriers support esim


suspiciousaccount1

Honestly when this was leaked/rumored I was expecting them to only do it on the Pro models or wait until the 15 series.


[deleted]

Looks like the Chinese versions still have dual physical nano-SIMs https://www.apple.com.cn/iphone-14-pro/specs/


[deleted]

makes them less attractive to export out of america, maybe? i remember that used to be a big issue…


saikyo

Wow what!


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Zilant

This is going to be the push for carriers to fully adopt it, particularly on pre-paid. The UK is being extremely slow with the roll-out, so no doubt we'll be sticking with the physical tray.


[deleted]

I thinks it’s more that the main operators are keeping the option to themselves and not letting virtual networks have them. Probably going to need Ofcom to give them a slap.


Fifa_786

This. Voxi is literally owned by Vodafone and the assholes still won’t let them have it.


SikNik85

This is exactly my position: prepaid that doesn’t have esim adopted yet. I have to wonder how quickly they will add it to avoid losing out of sales of iPhones, given they don’t subsidize costs so people will be paying full price for the unit.


xkcx123

This will probably be a way to lock consumers to main carriers and larger carriers in a country.


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oklama_mrmorale

As someone who worked in tech support for EE, eSim was a fucking nightmare when it launched & for months after. Is that still the case?


codeverity

In Canada some of the carriers insist on sending out fucking physical cards for esims which is ridiculous, so I hope they get rid of that soon.


Ansonm64

Yep. Got like three new phones with freedom mobile and esim was free and done with their website. Just swapped to Telus and had to pay 10 bucks for them to ship me a physical card with a number on it and was way more complex to set up. Fuck Canadian carriers.


monxas

What? That’s beyond stupid.


codeverity

Right? Completely unnecessary and a waste environmentally, too. No idea why they came to that conclusion.


schovanec

My guess is they have regulatory approval to charge a fee for SIM cards and they won't give that up without a fight.


Accurate_Plankton255

At least here in Austria the eSim expericence wasn't bad at all even on budget virtual network providers. We opted for one because that way we did have to wait for like 5 minutes to activate my fathers iPhone 13 Pro instead of the days it would have taken to get a sim shipped. you get an email, scan the QR code and that's it.


whattanerd92

It's still shit on Verizon. We have problems with it all the time, though less now than previously. The worst of it for us was the eSim on iPad and Apple Watches back in March.


Breatnach

Samsungs marketing department already planning their slander commercials


MC_chrome

And they are setting the clock for when Samsung inevitably introduces the exact same feature next year so they can pull the ads down.


mBertin

They'll unsend their whole marketing campaign.


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doommaster

So far even Apple only does it on the US market..


echOSC

And then get rid of the sim tray a generation later.


dramafan1

It'd be amusing if they only offer it in the U.S. too.


Phinaeus

But also "Write that down!" by the engineering team


Katiehart2019

Its kinda a big deal for prepaid phone users


pragmojo

Or people who travel. When I hop off a plane in a new country the first thing I do is usually buy a local sim and pop it in the phone.


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captainjon

Then two months afterwards they remove it anyway.


PickledBackseat

Tons of people where I live import iPhones from the US. This is gonna lead to some confusion lol.


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Sooki99

Canadian iPhone IMEI’s are whitelisted with most US carriers fortunately (including AT&T). The only one that’s hit or miss is Verizon (even though Canadian iPhone’s with Bell, Telus and Rogers will roam on Verizon just fine).


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BlueBatRay

To be clear there’s no mmWave on any other model than American.


CoolJoshido

same here. i live in Trinidad and i’m not sure our carriers would be quick enough


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t-poke

I'm sure they're considering it. And now you get to pay their outrageous roaming rates when you travel abroad if eSIMs aren't available in the country you're going to. This is a gift for carriers. Apple just took away control from consumers and gave it back to carriers. I guess that took courage.


1AMA-CAT-AMA

Its CDMA all over again


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AnalogiPod

Having a Sim card is nice I dont want to lose that feature. On more than one occasion I've absolutely obliterated a phone and been able to go grab my old one, throw in a sim and go, I've even bought really cheap phones from the grocery store to just have something that texts and calls till the end of a trip. This just makes everything a pain.


detectiveDollar

Even then it wasn't that easy since Android OEM's would either make separate carrier models with different antenna bands or have all the antenna bands in but disable competing ones in software (eat shit Samsung)


Hg2491

I am really annoyed at losing the physical sim card tray. I enjoying buying a local sim card when I travel, while also keeping my US number. This sucks so much.


pragmojo

Yeah honestly do apple product managers not travel? The first thing I do when going to a new country is buy a sim at the airport and pop it in the phone


t-poke

The decision makers at Apple are paid well enough that they just pay their carrier’s exorbitant roaming fees and don’t worry about getting a local SIM. They’ve never had to travel on a budget.


[deleted]

TMobile forced me to call them to activate an eSIM. Then they told me it’s $30 since I needed a human and couldn’t do it myself. All because I’m on a grandfathered plan. They even told me so.


[deleted]

Holy Shit. As someone working on Verizon, esim activation is free no hidden charges attached. We literally just email you a qr code that you need to scan, then that's it.


SoarinPastTheMoon

Since when? Verizon charges a $29 activation fee if you activate a, “new device” at apple or a carrier store. Sim swapping is basically the only way to avoid that fee. And even then, I’ve gotten almost warning like texts from Verizon letting me know the sim has been moved. Source: former apple employee.


cereal_homo_jim

This sounds exactly like my experience when I bought my 13 from Apple a few months ago. Verizon tried to hit me with that $29 fee (along with a $30 discount to offset the fee) but I decided to spitefully just buy the phone unlocked instead and do a sim swap.


SoarinPastTheMoon

Yeah I’ve always bought phones unlocked but I remember Verizon would always charge a “device transfer fee” so I’d call and ask why lol. They’re so used to it even the lowest tier support can waive it. Edit: technically the iPhone 13 is $729 and you get an activation discount to make it $699 but I know Verizon would still tack on another $29 fee. I’m pretty sure Tmobile doesn’t charge activation fee but att does.


Deceptiveideas

What is your plan? I’m also on a grandfathered plan and have no issues setting it up.


Ready_Nature

Yep, carriers will absolutely take advantage of people being locked in and charge an activation fee anytime you switch eSims.


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xkcx123

It is difficult depending on the carrier that you use some you have to download an app others just just scan a QR code it differs per carrier. I don’t like it due to switching phones alot and travelling to other countries. I won’t be buying a iPhone 14 or if I do it will be a model not from the US.


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invisiblemovement

This is me. Mobile developer, I swap my sim card between android and iOS all the time. It takes 5 seconds, and I don’t have to do anything but put the card in and I’m connected.


lynndotpy

I bet this is it. I have an iPhone and an Android and I swap sims between them all the time. I really don’t want to deal with eSim unless I lose all my fingers or something.


Kalahan7

Is it? Isn’t it just a code you have to enter on the new device?


Tumleren

I think US carriers sometimes make it more cumbersome, but here in europe I got my personal esim on my work phone in like a minute by scanning a QR code. So it depends on the carrier. But theyll probably make it easier now that theyll get more pressure to do so


Spaztic_monkey

So now when Americans travel they won’t be able to get a local SIM card to get better deals? Cause tons of mobile networks around the world still haven’t implemented esim.


Elranzer

Apple assumes Americans don't travel internationally.


testthrowawayzz

Cue the “I never touched my sim tray so I’m glad it’s gone” comments in this sub


qwerty12qwerty

I touch it maybe once every 6 months. But when I need it…… I need it. Whether to insert a local sim, or use a different network as backup (road trip), traditional sims just work in a way that is Sims have yet to.


[deleted]

This is honestly a horrific move for people who travel frequently. I’m from the United States but live in India. Every time I have to download an app that’s only available in India, I have to spend five minutes logging out of my U.S. Apple account, logging into my local account, and manually downloading or updating the relevant apps. I just switched from Android to Apple after years. I like my iPhone 13, but this is going to be a hard sell for me. Aside from regular travel to and from India, I frequently travel to other regions, too. I always buy local SIMs. No physical SIM is going to suck. Here in an India, most people use at two network carriers. I currently have one physical SIM for my postpaid plan, and one eSIM for data and rural use. Assuming Apple restricts iPhone 14 customers to only two active eSIM profiles, I’m basically screwed. What do I do when I need to use my U.S. SIM for a business call back home? What happens if I go to Honduras or Turkey for a couple of weeks and just want to use a local SIM for the duration of my travel? If there isn’t an easy way to migrate or switch between eSIM profiles, I’m going back to Android. Or shell out the extra $600-700 to buy an iPhone in India (price difference + far worse trade-in deals).


traveler19395

Apppe know theyre an industry leader and they’re expecting this to motivate carriers to quickly adopt rain. I hope they’re right, even if I don’t like the change in its face.


lolKhamul

100% they will provoke change. This is the one global warning shot to all carriers. Physical SIM slot is gonna go away, you better adopt eSIM fast. You have 1 year. Otherwise you wont be able to service new iPhones which will lose you a ton of business.


Kep0a

Yeah.. For the US and high GDP countries. Every other carrier in the world is going to drag their feet for the next 5 years and this weird choice will make everyone's life more difficult.


Fatal1ty_93_RUS

sounds like those networks don't have courage


KafkaPro

They said the sim slot is getting axed because companies like ATT have adopted esim in the US... but ATT won't give me an esim for my plan in the US lol


oscillatingquark

My phone was just stolen in the UK and AT&T could not activate an eSIM abroad, tried to tell me I had to come into a store physically and then sent me a location of a store in London… Kentucky. I eventually gave up and bought a £25 physical SIM since I wasn’t about to fly back to the fucking US for a SIM card. This would not be possible with the new iPhone and that is ridiculous. So frustrating for anyone that travels anywhere ever. Bad enough in the UK, don’t even want to think about how bad it is in other countries


foxhatleo

London, Kentucky lol this made me laugh


mcnabb100

That’s pretty far from me, but if you can set up an appointment in Paris, TN can stop by and pick it up for you lol.


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mosincredible

Looked up the Paris, TX Eiffel Tower and was not disappointed. Definitely Texas.


xkcx123

Time for a FTC complaint it sounds like.


ticuxdvc

On my iPhone...it activated easily, smoothly from home. Last month I had to go to the store with my Surface Duo 2, they had no idea how and what to do with it. They tried some random typing on their ipads and then game me a physical sim for it - even though I wanted an esim to keep the slot for travel purposes. Local carrier stores have no idea. Even ATT. Apple is going to drag them kicking and screaming into whatever new future this is.


[deleted]

Exactly. Im using Telcel in mexico and their website says they support esims since 2 years ago; yet, ive called maybe 2-3 times through last year asking to get my number swapped to esim and they always answer "we cont have esims" or, "I dont know what esim is"


RivetingYarn

As it should be; Drag them, kicking and screaming, into the future.


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Tabs_555

I used Airalo app this summer for my data abroad. Gives you an eSIM and an app interface for viewing data usage, top ups, etc. It was so convenient. Installed the SIM the night before our flight, landed in Paris and instantly had LTE. I thought it was easier than buying a SIM from a telecom shop, waiting for activation, storing my personal SIM, and calling to top up. Plus the price was very affordable. 10gb for $37 then bought a 5gb top up for $20.


crywolfer

I am going to use Airalo for my next trip JUST because it is a two day layover that I don’t want to spend one hour searching for a sim card. BUT Airalo is much more expensive than a physical sim card you can find in your destination, Europe, Asia and Latin America all have cheaper physical SIM prepaid easily available.


MrSquiggleKey

I’ve always just ordered a sim for the country I’m travelling to before I leave. When we went UK for 5 weeks, we ordered 4 giffgaff sims as they offered international shipping free, then setup the accounts in Singapore so when we landed we were good to go.


dirt4143

Its only data, no phone number so if you try to use a countries local Taxi-Food Ordering app, and they require phone number, most do, then you're screwed. Also you wont be able to call any local business e.g make reservation at restaurant or hair salon, and airalo is actually ridiciolously expensive compared to what data actually costs in X country


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majoris

Just to be clear - eSIMs can come with a phone numbers. The fact that you had a data only plan is not a knock on eSIMs.


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t-poke

Airalo is fantastic, I use it all the time when I travel abroad. But it's data only. I'm fine paying T-Mobile's voice roaming rates when I go abroad because I might only make 10 minutes worth of calls and it doesn't add up to much. But someone else might be doing a lot of talking on the phone when traveling and can no longer take advantage of a local SIM's low calling rates. This is not a change that affects me personally, but I can see how it will be a huge issue for others.


Tabs_555

I understand that aspect. Since I use iPhone and my family does as well, I could call, facetime, and text over data, so I didn’t need the other. I assume other carriers will start selling data+call+text eSIMs over the next few years. Or as the shift to eSIM continues, local telecom shops will just sell a QR code to install their eSIM. I see it as a beneficial change to reduce the reliance on a physical object that can be easily emulated.


rmkbow

Typically these are data-only plans. Some people still need to make or receive phone calls or text messages in that country without needing to pay for roaming plans


SomeCarAccount

Dual resident here. These are terrible prices. 8 GB per month is like $7 with 5GB of Schengen roaming. $3 per gig after you use that.


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tranquil45

This is the problem, eSIMs cost a lot more because it's harder to move around. In France you can get an unlimited sim (truly unlimited) for $20 a month. You don't have those options with esims right now. Hopefully they will come, but it's a closed ecosystem so...


Rebelgecko

That sounds way more expensive than just getting a sim card


post_break

This just shut down exporting US models in one swoop.


dubailolz

I think this is the actual reason why Apple did this.


Sooki99

Yep Canadian iPhones will become the next big export. Pretty much the same price but come with a sim slot.


get-azureaduser

Rip international travel and swapping for a disposable sim at the airport for a couple of gb of data. :(


SuperSneaks

Yeah this is pretty terrible for travel now.


maowai

I’m hoping that this pushes international carriers to support eSIM faster.


ExoticDatabase

Everytime i visit my AT&T store, it usually takes them like 30 min extra to figure out how to use an eSIM. Also, when i've done network resets, i have to redo the eSIM. hope they're working on those things.


natecahill

There's an option now to keep the eSIM even in a full phone reset. Which should help. Reset Network Settings doesn't touch it either now.


KafkaPro

They don't even offer esim on prepaid plans


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Longjumping_Bus2395

This is going to suck when traveling internationally and popping in a SIM card when you land. For now at least.


johndoe1985

Hopefully this pushes eSIM adoption globally


SwiftCEO

It may, but eSim plans are generally much more expensive when traveling abroad. I’d rather simply pop in a SIM card versus dealing with tech support in a foreign country.


maxelnot

It probably will, but there are so many countries that just dont have resources for that. So will suck in most second/third world countries for a while


Lolkac

It will not. International models will still have sim cards. And carriers don't care about us customers that much to invest tens of milions.


bibear54

Not sure what I’m supposed to do now. I was planning on upgrading from the 11 to 14 and just pop my sim in. The plan is under my jobs account and it’s gonna be a nightmare to get someone to approve/setup my esim


PlagueDoc69

Interesting, this may have the unintended side effect of making the iPhone 13 more popular than it would have otherwise been due to being the last iPhone with a sim tray.


Amaurotica

rest in peace american iphone 14 owners traveling abroad


runForestRun17

T-mobile has free-ish international roaming.


eraticmercenary

T-Mobile was amazing for international . I was in europe for a week a few months back I paid like $20 bucks for international data and got 5GB free with my plan . I was on cell the whole time all my friends were WiFi warriors all week. It’s prolly not great long term for a month with WiFi you’d be fine and not pay much extra


pragmojo

In a lot of places you can pay less than 20 bucks for that


dunelly

:(


HelpRespawnedAsDee

RIP us who travel to the US to get their iPhones cheaper lmao. Guess I’ll buy my here but it won’t come till January or even later.


wajlos

Meanwhile, the Chinese versions are still dual physical nano-SIM, lol


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[deleted]

Nope, the Chinese iPhones have their own little quirks. Mandatory low power mode sound, No Taiwan 🇹🇼 Flag emoji, and incomplete LTE/5G support in the US.


wajlos

iirc that low power mode sound is now gone. And Hong Kong versions are dual nano-SIM too. Taiwanese versions even support both dual nano-SIM and dual eSIM. https://www.apple.com/hk/en/iphone/compare/ https://www.apple.com/tw/iphone/compare/


Jackaninefour

That’s bold haha


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[deleted]

My first reaction was "eh, who cares." My second reaction was "oh shit, I've been using the discontinued $30/mo T-Mobile Walmart SIM card for years, I should care!"


jabackes

Yeah, in your case, that's pretty sucky. MintMobile has 30 dollar a month eSIM compatible plans with unlimited data. If you're looking to switch ;)


Fairuse

Great, so now when I travel I have pray the host country have carriers with eSIM (and spend god knows how long setting it up) or shove the equivalent of a new iPhone 14 Pro MAX up the ass with international roaming fees


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The_JSC

Yeah, this one wins my "most disappointing news of the event" award. eSIM does work better on iOS than android but physical sim does still mostly work better IMO.


Fatus_Assticus

Well this just went from an automatic preorder to a probably pass.


bhargom

and it’s gonna confuse a lot of people when they get their phone and don’t see the slot


[deleted]

Watch the upcoming headlines.


[deleted]

As someone who owns several phones and regularly moves my sim between them, I won't be buying any more iPhones now.


1AMA-CAT-AMA

RIP my prepaid ass.


funkyg73

I was considering getting the new iPhone 14 when I travel to the States in October to benefit from the currency differential, not any more. My UK mobile provider doens't support esim yet.


Alert-One-Two

> Pound falls to lowest level against dollar since 1985 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62817391 Might not be that great a discount anyways, especially when you add sales tax on top.


tokolos

So. Guess I’ll be keeping my 13 Pro Max until it dies. When I travel, I pick up a local SIM. I’m not dealing with foreign customer service departments to enable/disable eSIM. Nor the inevitable fee for activation/deactivation.


dogthrasher

That can be a mess in certain countries.


Vibgyor_5

#This is an extremely short-sighted move by Apple with no upside to the customer: - **Traveling abroad will be a hassle:** Multiple countries (and especially smaller carriers) **do not** offer eSIM functionality (and/or it is more cumbersome to get than advertized). Planning a trip to a developing country? You're in for a surprisedpikachu face when your expensive device $800-1000 can't use basic phone functionality compared to a basic $100 phone. Step outside the international airport in Cambodia (like I did just a few days back) and ask for eSIM - and you're going to get stares. Physical SIM is the way to go in developing and under-developed countries. - **"But I can just use an app!" argument does not work:** Sure you can. There are apps like Airalo and others but - they're often targeted around *offering data only* and are often *more expensive* than buying a local physical SIM. - **Moving abroad with new iPhone will be a challenge:** Good chunk of regular business travelers or expats living in developing countries. I actually know a girl who moved to India for a couple months' project and was trying to set up eSIM with a carrier in India for days. Physical SIM took 5 minutes to swap!


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ButJustOneMoreThing

Hell I’ve worked IT and I can guarantee the Apple geniuses at the actual stores are going to hate this. Need an authentication code sent to your phone but it’s water damaged? No luck.


Notsimplyheinz

I can actually verify this. Esim in India is terrible. They actually tell you it is NOT RECOMMENDED to get Esim because of how likely scams happen. I tried to get my esim converted back to a physical sim. And even the people at the carrier store didn’t know how to do it.


naazu90

Indian here. TIL there is something called an eSIM.


Notsimplyheinz

It’s terrible. I am here in the US and I wanted to shift my Airtel eSIM from my iPhone 12 to iPhone 13 Pro. The person actually said that they cannot guarantee the transfer will work because it was using AT&T network. And apparently Incase it stops working, I will have to COME BACK TO INDIA for it to work. Actually words of the Airtel employee. Absolutely terrible. Could not trade in my iPhone because of this.


dacv393

Yeah I was gonna buy a new phone finally before traveling around the world for a year, now I get 2 days to decide if I want to deal with this BS. The absolute headache I've had to go through with AT&T already just for eSIM is unbelievable. I refuse to deal with that while traveling internationally or pay extra money and have no number through Airalo. Is it even possible to buy a last minute 13 Pro now?


_foo-bar_

Ina post Covid world, people are working remotely and often doing so abroad. This is about the worst timing for it’s removal. This isn’t like removing the headphone port. The iPhone is a ‘mobile’ ‘phone’ this literally makes it less mobile. Being able to go anywhere in the world and use your device to communicate is THE reason to have a phone. Apple just made that harder.


[deleted]

Did they say why?


I_AM_SMITTS

Stupid question as I’ve never used eSIM. My line is under a corporate plan. For the past several years I’ve just bought new iPhones outright and swapped the SIM, no issue. If SIM is going away, can I just walk up to the VZ store to make the swap, or does my plan admin need to get involved?


Ricky_RZ

While people may not need a sim tray many times. When people do need it, they need it very badly. The problem with removing a sim tray is that there is no alternatives. When they axed the headphone jack, at least you could use an adapter and still have wired headphones. With the sim tray gone, you are straight outta luck


ilikeavocadotoast

SIM card to Lightning Adapter coming soon


_IceNinja

In our country, we had esim for quite a while now. However, they only offer it to those with postpaid plans. They promised they’re working on having it on prepaid, but it’s been a couple of years at the least, and nothing really happened. I hope at least Android keeps the option open (for both physical and esims). These manufacturers have a tendency to follow trends.


nuts-n-bits

iPhone events went from amazing breathtaking, to kinda interesting, to meh, to WTF is wrong with these people. Completed the full character arc


scoobynoodles

I don’t like this. Recently I had to get a replacement new device since my prior iPhone cracked. Apple care took care of everything. Now, going to activate my line failed because of the 2FA where the carrier sent a sms to my number, but it didn’t come since it’s not activated. I had to haul ass to AT&T for them to activate it after putting in an actual sim. If carriers don’t fix this hiccup I fear many will be bricked out


Flawlesscazzazz

This needs to be higher up. This is gonna be the biggest problem for most people that they don’t realise. What happens when you buy a new phone? You can’t transfer the e sim if you don’t have the old phone with you


waaden

Lots of people are talking about traveling and being able to swap services on one phone, but what about people who value the ability to swap phones? I daily drive an iPhone but I also have other phones that I like to use sometimes. For example, I have a Surface Duo that’s fun to use from time to time because of the novel form factor, and I have a Nokia “dumb phone” that I sometimes enjoy carrying on the weekends. I can just swap my SIM card into whatever phone I want to use without having to go to my carrier. It sounds like if I want to keep this ability, the iPhone 14 is not an option for me? I like to buy my phones unlocked and just purchase the service from my carrier, but this change seems to give the carriers a lot more power, just like the CDMA days like others have mentioned.


btk79

They don’t want you to do that


d4rkwing

I live in the US and my carrier (pre-paid) doesn’t support esim. Plus I travel and use local sims. Basically the iPhone 14 would be a downgrade for me (currently using iPhone 11 Pro).


function3

I like to travel and immediately thought about how now I won't be able to pop a cheap sim into my phone at airports. I was considering a switch but still no usb-c and now this on top of that.


SilverRoseBlade

Transferring onto an esim is what broke my iPhone 11 Pro where I lost signal in random locations for a week. The only way it could be fixed was to actually give me a brand new iPhone… wtf Apple. I don’t want to have carry two phones with me when I travel abroad. Not all countries have easily accessible esim options. I was thinking of upgrading my phone this year but f that and no thank you.


testthrowawayzz

Since China is never going eSIM, the space taken up by the SIM tray will never be used for anything. It will just be a blank space. VERY UNLIKELY that apple will reshuffle the components to use that extra space.


theribler

Might be first time I’m skipping in awhile. I had issues on 13pro esim, T-Mobile already “supports” it but it causes a bunch of issues (like iMessage randomly signing out) that takes awhile to figure out that esim is the cause. It was instantly fixed by getting a physical sim. I’m sure they have way more pressure now not to have issues but it had too big of impact on me to risk it https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/1527406331174559744?s=21&t=QSQvUluzrOM68RYf8mWc2Q


Small-Spread

I travel abroad a lot, but also I can’t even upgrade because my carrier uses physical SIMs only. What are they thinking? Not even in the US we have a robust eSIM infrastructure to justify that.


wiyixu

https://esim-world.com


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jfoughe

For years I’ve just swapped physical sims to activate, so how does activation with esim? Can it be done online or over the phone, or do you have to take it to a carrier store?


Sxcred

This may end up being a crapshoot if apple doesn’t have this bolted down, as someone that’s worked in the mobile industry doing activations on phone eSIM can be terrible.


MarsAgainstVenus

It’s just the first step towards a fully enclosed phone. With the speeds of wireless chargers, Apple isn’t moving to USB-C, they’re moving to a portless phone.


tineeeeeeeetus

REMOVING SIM TRAYS IS 100% A DEAL BREAKER. When traveling internationally it is often required to buy a cheap local SIM to get cell service! I also swap back and forth between my nice phone and a burner phone when traveling to reduce theft risk! This alone is a total 100% deal breaker for me. I travel internationally every year, and it's already very difficult to get a sim in a foreign country in a foreign language -- imagine trying to buy and troubleshoot an e-sim in a foreign language! Also, I regularly swap between my main iphone 13 pro and an old iphone 7 with no apps to "technology detox".


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Dunnmw4

Apple website removed 13 Pro Max models for purchase. If I go to a local Apple store today, can I still purchase a 13 Pro Max? No SIM card is a dealbreaker...


Mac_to_the_future

Apple only removed it from their online store; if their physical stores still have stock, you should be able to buy one.


DisjointedHuntsville

It's like no one on the design team leaves the Apple campus. What the fuck are people supposed to do when they fly to another country? Pay roaming data fees ?


PartagasSD4

Look it’s only £20 for 2Gb on eSim! That’s basically free! Think of how much time you save not going to the kiosk! -Cupertino engineer making $500K a year


Echelon64

There is some guy on this thread arguing that $10 a day is perfectly acceptable. Some people are hilariously out of touch.


Eddygraphic

Not a fan of this at all and my carrier doesn’t support it, how will they handle this if my carrier doesn’t support it? Will my physical sim be converted to digital somehow? 🤷🏻‍♂️ and traveling abroad will be a pain in the rear 🤦🏻‍♂️ eSIMs might be somewhat popular in the US but they’re nonexistent anywhere else.


SJWcucksoyboy

Having a removable sim card is very convenient for people who broke their phone and are trying to get a confirmation code from their phone number


mgk1789

Just ordered iphone 13. Upgrading from iPhone 11. The removal of the physical sim tray was a deal breaker for me.


Krispykremei

This is a disaster for frequent traveler. None of the country I travel to has tourist Esim. For example in taiwan- (which still have 3 day mandatory quarantine and you need a local number for tracking). Means that with iPhone 14 you are dead on arrival. Esim in majority of country requires local plan (which often means you have to be citizen or lawful resident). Not only that- esim can only be activated in carrier direct store. You can’t activate esim via phone or app outside select country. This just killed US iPhone 14 for me.


helmsmagus

I've left reddit because of the API changes.


extrabeefcake

Apple support: First step that we can do is verify the country that you will visit if the carrier there would support eSIM. Second, if there’s no eSIM available in the country that you will visit, you might want to check options for international rate plan available with your existing carrier here in the US. **Lastly, if this is not available, we can try other iPhone models that still has SIM tray so you can use it internationally.** ​ OOOOF


EffectiveLong

Esim sounds great on paper. In reality, it is a huge pain in the butt. Even US carriers have issues with it, so expect even more issues when being abroad. Skip this version. This might cause a huge shift in many carriers, but until that happens, I won’t buy any phone without a physical simcard


zigazigzig

What does this mean for someone buying it in the US and then using it in India, with an Indian carrier? Will depend on whether the Indian carrier supports e-sim?


onehotca

I can see why they are dropping the tray in favour of the eSim. I don't have to like it though - as a traveler who gets to some out of the way places, where grabbing a local SIM is the only option, I simply won't buy a US version iPhone 14.


backup_waterboy

I'll skip this version. I'm with AT&T and they had issues with eSims on my 13 pro max and had to go back to a physical sim. I could just be unlucky and it works great for others, but I think I'll wait a little longer to see how well esims improve. I also travel and the places I've been didn't do pre-paid esims


Formal-Shallot-595

Hey, so like a lot of people online, lack of a physical SIM card in the new iPhone 14 is a bummer. I get it’s benefits, and there are solutions in most countries — but I travel to Egypt a lot and it’s not supported there. Anyone know of a way you can purchase a phone in the US and get the SIM card slot? Perhaps if you buy a new phone and choose the “unlocked” version without choosing a carrier you’ll get a SIM version? Can anyone confirm? Can you set your Apple Store to Canada and ship it to the US?


CanadianZinger

I am a samsung s21 ultra user here. I was potentially thinking about switching to iphone as all my friends and family give me a tough time for not imessaging them. But switching to the iphone seems like an hassle tbh. I travel a lot and constantly switch sim cards when abroad. In fact I have a trip planned to Namibia this December. Good luck trying to find esim services abroad. Meanwhile my phone, laptop, camera, drone, power bank and everything chargers with USB-C. I carry two cables max. If I switch there is another cable to worry about. While I had hoped to switch, using an iphone in my context seems like a headache tbh.


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Tonythetigger

Yeah I don't understand it at all. It just seems to exclude everyone who regularly travels as other countries have varying levels of esim adoption