Buy the phone in Hong Kong and you will have TWO SIM trays! 💡
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Other After three years, I won't buy an iPhone 14 due to the SIM tray...
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Oh have no doubt this move is more for Apples pocket then any other reason. Cheaper manufacturing costs, less material, less component costs. And Apple can take a cut of the cellular pricing. Personally I wouldn’t be fussed about IF my carrier offered e sim, but it doesn’t and neither do many others which is by in the U.K. they haven’t done it, for now.
Can you imagine the damage that would do to its manufacturing? I think it would be safe to say the Chinese premiership wouldn't like such a move.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they expand that to more countries next year. They started in their home market where they are the dominant phone maker.
Plus it gives the Apple consumer the opportunity to buy a second iPhone for when they are traveling. Why buy one when you can have two at twice the price?
I have the prepaid plan as well. So really no option to continue that plan without a SIM card? I wasn’t planning on getting a new phone this year but will have to look at plans again next summer when my prepaid plan runs out.
Precovid I traveled for work extensively...250,000+ butt in seat air miles per year at least, and never used local sims. For the longest time I was on Google FI because I just loved being able to land anywhere and have full speed data. With the reduction in travel due to Covid, I have had time to reconsider my approach.
For global high speed data, I now use the airalo app to download esims. For Globe.ph, they offer esims for 20GB $32... not great but not bad. Combined with iphones IMS functionality, my phone works exactly as at home.
Only downside is no local number. That said, I can't remember the last time I had to make a normal cellular call overseas, everyone uses messenger apps like Whatsapp now.
I won't be upgrading from my 12 Pro Max this year, but the sim tray is not a consideration in that decision.
They absolutely did this for US carriers. They did the BS where you have to pay $30 MORE to have an unlocked regular non-pro iphone, and could only get that $699 price for mini if you got a carrier plan ($729 unlocked). Surprise, Surprise the Pro didnt have it, but most people buying unlocked I imagine would be people who buy a Pro anyways.
BS
Nope, has a sim slot, says right on the Apple Canada page. Our version also doesn't have mmwave.
Carriers tried to tack on fees all the time in the physical SIM era. AT&T required a new SIM to activate VoLTE. In many cases (e.g. corporate discounts) it was and is easy to avoid those fees. If anything, carriers don’t like eSIM since it makes it easier to change carriers (everything can be done digitally without a trip to the store or waiting for a card to arrive in the mail).
I spent the entire month of July in Italy this summer. I used a local Wind SIM and paid 30 euros for 200 GB of data. For long stays when you need a lot of data something like Airalo isn't sufficient.
Edit - My friend that works at an Italian carrier just confirmed I can get service with an eSIM next summer at his store. Crisis (potentially) avoided.
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My guess is that the MVNOs will adopt eSIMs. They won’t want to give up the iPhone market, though I‘d guess that the MVNO market is skewed toward cheaper models that still have the SIM card slot.
I think this affects those of us who travel and have to switch SIM cards between WiFi pucks and iPhones to recharge the WiFi pucks. This is frustrating. Hopefully, WiFi puck carriers will also do the eSim thing.
As a subscriber to two MVNOs (Fi, Visible) both have eSIM support. Mint Mobile also has eSIM support. Several other MVNOs probably have them too.
I agree with your point on the twisted view of the MVNOs, but the more important point the OP is twisted about is in your second paragraph.
Apple pushing this will force carriers to change to eSIM, since other phones will drop the SIM tray soon too. Smaller carriers weren't the only ones complacent about eSIM, major carriers were too and made some hoops to jump through sometimes. Yeah it's uncomfortable now to think of travel situations, but Apple likely gathers data on how many users actually use multiple or change SIMs, and decided this was better all things considered.
Granted, any metrics for SIM and travel could be skewed by the reduction in travel during pandemic. But the main thing stopping someone from getting service at their destination is the carrier not supporting what will become the new standard in a matter of a year or two.
This. Hopefully enough of us do it that the SIM tray comes back as a US option. It's a supreme longshot, but its all we have at least until eSIM is truly universal.
This plus I have lines on Verizon, T-Mobile and prepaid on AT&T. I swap sims between phones all the time.
I bought a 13 Pro Max last month that I got unlocked online the first week I had the phone so I could use it on T-Mobile. I have no regrets in buying the 13 last month. I also bought an unlocked 13 Pro max direct from Apple last month.
I use Tracfone as a prepaid plan; I don’t think I will be able to use e-sim with them. Maybe in a couple of years they will have it available. Meanwhile, I’m glad I got my iPhone 13 last year.
They are using the US market to force a change everywhere. Currently prepaid and others are locked out, but that will rapidly change.
Carriers in many countries didn’t have a need to shift and this will force them.
For Apple, it is a strong desire since it helps to make the ecosystem more sticky. Moving between iOS devices is super easy with it, but jumping ship to Android isn’t so easy.