eSIM-only: The iPhone 17 no longer has a physical SIM in these countries
The complete switch to the eSIM did not take place after all: Apple announces which countries will remain with physical SIMs.
A selection of SIM cards.
(Image: New Africa/Shutterstock.com)
At one point, it looked as if Apple would finally bury the physical SIM card in its iPhones, as it had already done with the iPhone 16 in the USA. But then things turned out differently: depending on the market, all three iPhone 17 models will remain as before, i.e., eSIM plus SIM slot. Europe is one of the regions where this is the case. The big exception is the iPhone Air, which will be eSIM-only worldwide—even including China. However, there is only one mobile phone provider there that will sell the device: China Unicom. Apple apparently had to negotiate this over a longer period of time: It was proudly announced during the keynote that the eSIM will be introduced “globally” with the iPhone Air.
eSIM-only also has advantages
In the future, the following countries will only have the eSIM on all iPhone 17 variants: United States (as before), Canada, Mexico, Japan, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. In other regions of the world, the combination of eSIM and SIM slot will remain. Whether devices with compatibility for two physical SIM cards (without eSIM) will be available again in China (and Hong Kong and Macau) remained unclear at first.
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Devices with eSIM only certainly have advantages if you can otherwise cope with the principle: Apple uses the available space for (slightly) more battery. Depending on the model, you should be able to watch videos for around two hours longer. It does not currently look like you will be able to get devices in Europe that are eSIM-only—Apple has been selling the variants depending on the market so far. So if you really want an eSIM-only iPhone 17 model, you have to buy it in other regions. You should first check whether all the necessary radio ranges are covered. For example, mmWave support is apparently still only available in the USA.
Fight against physical SIM started with iPhone 14
As usual, Apple's SIM slot accommodates a nano-SIM. Since the iPhone 14 in 2022, the company has started to only offer eSIMs in the USA. However, the group initially did nothing with the space gained—the space remained empty.
In principle, the group appears to be planning to switch to eSIM entirely in the longer term. The iPhone Air is probably just the spearhead here. Mobile phone providers are currently training their employees on this. You can read all the details about eSIM and iPhones in a detailed FAQ.
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