eSIM - The ugly truth 

☕ morningbrewdaily.com/reneritchie Sign up to Morning Brew for FREE today! 🔥 Algorithms vs Timelines! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dl7vti7CYGc.html 🤔 eSIM vs SIM card, what do you prefer? 🚨 Yes, I had to re-upload the video, thanks for understanding!!

I hate that Verizon charges $35 to "activate" my new iPhone when I could have purchased the phone outright and simply swapped the physical sim. Grrr!

Easy solution…don’t buy it…make these companies give us what we want not what they want.

I have the feeling that iPhone 14 sales in Canada are gonna be huge, since we are getting models with the physical SIM tray slot. I wouldn't be surprised if Americans wanna order from Canada.

as someone who bounces from phone to phone no more iphones for me

eSim was indeed a deal breaker for me. However, I live in Canada and I was afraid that when they were talking the USA they may have included Canada...it would not be the first time...but I digress...on September 9th I was ready to order my iPhone 14 Pro but first I contacted Apple Canada to be sure the Canadian version was getting one of the "overseas" versions of the iPhone 14 Pro and not the American version. I was so relieved when it was confirmed that the iPhone 14 Pro sold in Canada does have the sim tray. I immediately put in my order. For once it was nice to be treated like a foreigner alien by an American establishment.

Third World viewpoint here: there's no Apple Store in my country, so we order online from the USA. And you guessed it, there's also no e-sim support either. Buying iPhones from the EU or UK is stupidly expensive, so we're in trouble with the iPhone 14's. I guess Canada will have to do.

The problem with removing sim tray, is it also removes a bunch of features, such as certificates for national identity in Estonia. Or RFC for public transit. There are more than meets the eye in SIM card that is possible.

I’m not gonna lie, I did the eSIM thing with my iPhone 11 Pro Max & the 12 Pro Max & they gave me nothing but problems, also with my 13 Pro Max. So I switched it to a physical SIM card & things have been working smoothly ever since. I hope they fix iCloud account & Verizon data account connectivity issues with an eSIM, especially when using a VPN

These benefits of eSIM can already be enjoyed by iPhone users because it’s already on existing devices. But when you also remove the physical sim, now it will be a nightmare to travel to many places.

i canceled my pre-order for this phone after thinking more about the eSIM thing. first it renders the backup mini i bought last year moot as if my main phone breaks i cant just pop out the SIM and carry on with my mini, i now likely will need a customer service interaction to get it going; i dont trust providers- champions of the next fee they can add on, to not start charging every eSIM swap, and i keep seeing that people have had rough times getting it to work/activate.

There's more to the story of removing the SIM card tray other than advancing technology. eSIMs have been on Apple phones for a few development cycles and they are still struggling to gain full adoption here. Why are there still sim trays on the Canadian, HK, Singapore and Australian versions of the iPhone 14? The truth is with no sim tray, it will be harder to swap phone service with smaller, cheaper carriers or use your existing phone with an international cell service backing you into roaming charges or longer service terms. Sadly, I believe Apple was financially incentivized to do this from the existing cell service providers. Not happy!

A SIM tray portion inside any phone is SO small capacity that there are no gains in battery capacity. This only has to do with Apple giving control back to the US carriers. More hoops to jump thru & carriers can charge for switching.

I really am not in favor of removing the physical sim card, I mean, at least give us the option to pay extra in the US to buy a 14 series device with a slot. I never really cared about the removal of the headphone jack, I think it made more people angry that this will (but in my opinion, removing the sim tray is way worse for the end user). I think it's about creating one more small barrier (to switching away to Android). I have a 12 Pro and I guess I'm gonna have to research if the Canadian model is really the same (in terms of supporting all the right bands), I'm cool if there is no millimeter wave 5g on it. I won't buy an iPhone without a sim tray.

Is it the same as the physical SIM or there are some problems while lets say talking on the phone..etc sth like loosing signal or sth else ??

I simply not sure about the move to straight eSim. I like the control of being able to switch things when needed. What will happen if the eSim becomes corrupted, or what happens if the phone needs a factory reset? My first experience with an eSim was not positive and created more headache then ease. I am still skeptical at this time and reserve my comments for later.

I had to turn in my iPhone 12 Pro recently for repairs and popped the sim out and put it in a temp iPhone for the time it took until my phone was ready for pick up (3 days). So with esim, are we just without our phone number/data plan until are phone comes back (sometimes up to 2 weeks) or is there a way to transfer the esim back and forth as needed?

I have a 13Pro Max which has both 1 eSim and 1 SIM card Slot. To me that's the best of both worlds.

I think the rest of the world Europe Asia and Africa still have a regular sim because they’re a lot more likely to swap them out frequently. We’re pretty isolated in the USA. But for other parts of the world they’re a lot more likely to cross borders into other countries frequently and have a need to change up their sim to match the region they’re in. We can travel to any state we want too with the same sim but that’s probably not the case when our states are comparable to their separate countries.

Removing the sim card is basically turning a gsm phone into a cdma

Wondered why this video disappeared and got privated! Glad it’s back! 😻

Removing Sim tray is a real inconvenience for me

I order a no-carrier iPhone 14, do I need to convert to e-sim before or contact AT&T?

I am using 11pro max. It does not let me use two esim at the same time; one must be the physical sim. What about if I want to use two esim simultaneously by disabling the physical sim? Is it possible 14 pro max?

They should just have retained the sim tray. For those who don’t like it, they can use esim. But for those who would rather have the physical sim, then they can still use it

Im a travel technician and would really hate not being able to buy a local sim card to avoid roaming prices currently Working in Taiwan and doing this couldnt imagine trying to explaine this at a phone Carrier Down here

So a question !! Wouldn't esim only sort of deter phone thieves, i dont know the technicalities but i can imagine it can be easier to track,if stolen ??

I guess we have to wait for the ifix it tear down - but the physical tray is gone? Or just they are not shipping sims with it? I have 12.9 iPad Pro with a physical tray but it was shipped to me with esim activated

You buy an Apple iPhone with your money and Apple OWNS YOUR IPHONE.

International travel is what annoys me about this. Yes, it’s fine in the US, but it makes it much harder (or impossible) to pick up a local plan when traveling, depending on the market.

Doesn’t a carrier charge even if you pay in full for your iPhone $35. Verizon and ATT do I believe. Is there a way around this?

I want a hybrid with both esim and regular sim. DUAL SIM solutions. Also buttons to turn off camera and microphone, etc.

e-sim is great for people who use one phone, but for people who like to switch between multiple phones a physical Sim card makes it easier to switch between phones. e-sim is locked to one phone.

I was ready to order a 14 pro then watched a video about eSim and discovered I would not be able to get a local card in a number of places I visit so trying to decide on a trip to Canada so I can get the physical SIM card.

Thanks…I enjoyed your thoughts. I appreciate your viewpoint. Blessings on your day 👍🏻

Esim is a problem for me because i like to switch back and forth between ios and android. At&t wont let me do that is been a pain.

This is like how America carriers locked their phones. Import an iPhone 14 from HK. It not only retails for cheaper, it comes with 2 physical sim slots. Yes 2!! And it’s unlocked too. Also your apple warranty/ applecare+ will be honored internationally including in America. On top of that, as the iPhone is different with these 2 physical SIM card slots, they might not have the parts to fix the iPhone (depending on what breaks), which means most of the time they will just have to replace the entire phone.

as a EU customers, i wish we would have choose the one without sim tray , Esim are here since the 1st Apple Watch and every carrier at least in France supports it , i use double Esim and even sometimes delete one to transfert it to another iPhone, and i never got issues... the only issue i see is if it's possible to transfert a Esim to an android via bluetooth , cos it's an option on iPhones too .

Going back into time the advantage of the GSM system when introduced was that there was a SIM card. Old analog mobiles were set up by the phone company and locked you in. With simcards, we could swap out, when travelling buy a local sim, alter the setup of phones if we have multiple devices. We. already had the ultimate solution with an e sim and physical SIM card option in the iPhone 11 and later. In Australia we still have this thank goodness. If you want e-sim you have it if not put in a SIM card. Not all the world is the first world. In our region many countries still have local SIM cards to insert and give max convenience. Many people in SE Asia still frequently travel between countries they need simcard convenience . I can see the large US phone conglomerates will be very happy with this development. My advice to people in North America...import a compatible foreign iPhone which still has simcard as well as e-sim compatibility.

I love how the topic transition from missing sim tray to an ad the same breath... 😂 I got bamboozled... 😂

I was thinking that Apple might remove the lighting port but instead they removed the SIM card reader. 🤔

I live outside the USA in the Caribbean more specifically and I cannot purchase a 14 because of the no sim tray shenanigans. I’m upsettttt

Just remembered we’re not gonna have a SIM slot… boy is making reviews for the channel gonna be interesting this year 😅😬 Love the videos Rene! 👍🏽

In UK you can convert eSim to physical one and vise versa anytime for free. Is this not the case in the US?

UPDATE: If you are considering getting the Canadian model which has a SIM tray, note that you will NOT be able to use it with Verizon (hard or eSIM). This is because Verizon uses IMEI whitelisting and the IMEI of your Canadian phone is not in their list of valid IMEIs. When checking the IMEI it will tell you that "your device is not compatible with our network" which is not technically true---the iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro from Canada has almost identical radio specs as the US model (yeah it misses the millimeter 5G bands, but who cares), so this is just a Verizon admin issue. SIMS and eSIMS from T-Mobile and AT&T work just fine in the Canadian model.

I am for it, but: I didn't know how terrible the current e-sim implementation is. I thought it was like a wifi password in a qr code. So no issue switching devices, just scan the qr code again. Now I had to learn: that's not the case at all. You need to contact your carrier. It can be as simple as a button press in an app that automatically configures it; but it can also mean that the carrier charges you for device switching and it can take a few business days until you get it per mail. That's... disappointing. I honestly dream of a future, where people don't have a home internet connection anymore. Just a mobile contract wich allows ~5 devices and then your tv, notebook, tablet, car ~ all just take an esim and you are done. No more router, wifi or infrastructure for a private person to maintain.

In Canada, we cannot swap eSims in & out. can we? I though one use and out??

The problem of eSIM is the lack of support(disdain) from big tech apps and services across the board, you can't get verified or even be accepted for creating accounts for almost anything.. I have one for travel and I can't even subscribe to the free tiers in entertainment apps when phone # is mandatory. I guess all this comes about because of burner phones.

I held off getting the iPhone 14 because of this. I like to be able to switch between my Pixel and iPhone.

The removal of the sim tray has made it very difficult for people outside of the US to purchase the new IPHONE. Apple should have at least catered for those customers coming to the US who want to purchase the new IPHONE & need the sim tray.

I live in a fairly advanced country ((Ireland) and I wanted an eSim and a physical sim and the eSim is not available here yet. What happens when I go to Africa or somewhere else and want a local sim on vacation?

I am using iphone 14 pro max 256 gb and using esim too but never had any kinds of range problem till now.

Hahaha, and the cycle continues. After months/weeks of guessing and "leaks", the product is officially announced. Enter the bashing of new features. Soon we will have the unboxing video's, reviews, then round two of bashing "what Apple didn't tell us", followed by the "x-months later" reviews, after which the guessing game for the iPhone 15 will begin. That being said, this channel is one of the few I stick to, because here at least you get a substantiated opinion. Not like many other channels that tell anything just to get views.

Of all the iPhones I’ve ever owned, not once have I had to swap a sim. Guess I’m not a nerd 🤓

I use the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but I refuse to buy the new iPhone 12 Pro Max even though I would like to get the 14 because of the new camera, I wont do it because there is no sim tray. I want to travel overseas and with a sim tray it is easy to get a sim card in another country and have easy access to service. Can you buy an iphone in the UK with a sim tray and activate it in the USA or are there any hiccups?

The sim card broke and jammed the sim tray that cannot be fully opened - is there a fix? I would like the eSim to be standard not a monopoly.

I’m a nerd, I spend my free time watching hours of tech RU-vid instead of watching TV like whatever is going viral right now with dragons. I never cried about the headphone jack being gone, AirPods, work, great, actually, all Bluetooth headsets work really nicely. Never complained. The only people who have a right to complain are music producers I would say, but they have audio interfaces anyway so they don’t even realize the headphone jack they’re missing on their phone.

The people who say that the removal of the sim slot adds extra battery are literally brain dead.

I live in Canada, and the SIM from my old iPhone 7+ was installed into the SIM card tray, and works just fine. Seems odd, that American's didn't have the choice, or 'with Sim' or without? Nonetheless, loving the iPhone 14 Pro Max...another small difference is that I see some folks are upgrading the IOS 16.2 (beta) version, but my phone is 16.1, so far. Not seeing any option to move up to 16.2 that I can find, so I'll be patient and wait for it to be set in an 'update'.

E Sim seems like you have to keep Calling to switch or Swap Carriers which can be annoying if they’re going to do this than they need to make it easy without calling the Carrier or at least have on Settlngs or an App to easily Swap

I have an Iphone 14 Pro on order. I have been upgrading every 2 years since the 4. I am sad that going to the 14 Pro will mean that I can likely never use any of my older iphones ever again. I did like to swap from my 12 Pro to my Iphone 8 when I did long 100 mile endurance bike races. The smaller phone just fits better in the toptube bag of my gravel and/or mountain bike.

eSIMs should be an option, not a requisite. It is an evil greedy move from big companies, many world argue. They say SIMs are evolving into eSIMs. You can also say that CDMA evolved into SIMs. Yet the technologies differ, these are considered "evolutions". Don't think so. The SIM technology provided more freedom, choice and privacy than the CDMA technology, so people adopted it very fast. CDMA and all of the problemas it had, seems to be "evolving" into eSIMs. In other words, eSIMs are the new CDMA. Many people around the world fought for the SIM technology, it was a blessing to get rid of CDMA. But now, Apple and carriers want to give us a new version of CDMA. I don't parade with them in this matter. CDMA/eSIMs= probability of more corruption and burocracy of the "carrier" side and problems and more problems for the consumer. SIM technology: freedom of choice, privacy and private property are on the side of the consumer. If you buy a esim only phone, the phone is actually "owned" more by the carrier/manufacturer. The sale in this case, is more like a lease/borrowed. On the other side, SIM phones are yours. You can ensure "more privacy", Big Brother is a little more handicapped by not having the eSIM permanently stuck inside the phone. I will resist buying any eSIM only phone. I favor SIM swappable phones. My humble opinion.

if I get a Canadian version, will it have a SIM card slot?

Rene, I don’t know how It is in Canadian but here int he US a SIM card lives once on pretty much all carries than Verizon. That means that if I switch my AT&T phone from my Note to an iPhone 14 and later want to go back I have to get a completely new SIM, every time you do it. Even with AT&T to activate the eSIM they have to send/give you a card with a QR code to scan. This is far more than just an inconvenience.

Last year with my iPhone 13 pro that I got as part of the apple upgrade program. It was sent activated on my carrier via Esim no physical SIM card even though the phone had a SIM card try. It worked fine for me never had to contact my Carrier. I’m guessing them activating via esim was overall successful that they were confident to make the move in the US.

Choice is what I prefer. I can't stand apples stance forcing obsolescence. No usb c, no 3.5, no sim now. If it weren't for the ecosystem I would go back to Sony.

Did this video get reposted?

I got an esim for the first time a couple months ago …. The initial setup process was annoying but I can’t tell the difference… Looked up the process of switching phones and it seems they’re linked to iCloud accounts … don’t care for that but it is what it is …

It took 24 hours for my esim on my Apple Watch to activate, and they had trouble activating my esim on my iPhone 13 pro max. Luckily I still have a SIM card tray, so that worked of course. This no SIM card tray thing is going to be a nightmare, guaranteed.

It's not just nerds that like or want or need SIMs and there's no reason we can't have both - the last iPhones have shown that and the current international iPhones prove that. There are too many scenarios where SIM, and not eSIM, is the right answer for this not to be a regression, ranging from carrier support to travel to faulty phones to dropped phones to a hundred edge cases.

Will existing iPhones from iPhone 13 down that support E SIM be compelled to switch.

Great lighting on this one Rene 👏

Losing the physical SIM card slot may be a little annoying for people switching to the iPhone 14, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. When Apple released the MacBook Air with no optical drive in 2008, people were annoyed, because software was distributed on CDs and DVDs back then. Nowadays, software is rarely distributed on optical media. Even the PlayStation and Xbox have digital-only models now. We will look back on physical SIM cards the same way we look at DVDs now.

Last year, I upgraded from an 11 to a 12 (5G) and when I received the phone, I couldn’t get it to work with the included SIM, so I swapped in my old one (4G). And didn’t know I didn’t have 5G capability until I called in to AT&T for some other reason that I don’t recall now. The representative told me there was a SIM card mismatch. I said, well I know why, but what’s the big deal. That’s when I learned a few things. Swapping SIM cards isn’t as simple as it used to be and the tech on the phone does have the ability (inadvertently) to brick your phone in the middle of the call. I had to resort to a Google phone number and my MacBook to get the problem fixed after escalating the problem to a qualified and experienced AT&T SIM card tech. I’m glad they’re gone!

all places i have traveled in the last 10 years have no esim...or they may have esim but need to open an account...which you have to show residency and bank account info

Why can’t we have a talk eSIM instead of data only? I live in Canada and have a phone plan where I live. However, when I spend a months in Florida, I swap my physical home sim for a local 30 days, unlimited talk, no contract physical sim. How will I need to handle this in the future if I purchase a new iPhone that can only handle an eSIM (data only)?

I've never met a actual Nerd who called themselves a Nerd. This is a first. Nerd is a word used by someone else to broadcast an individuals intelligence. Wouldn't calling yourself a Nerd be considered conseided?.

Didn't I see this already?

This feature is a most for me I travel a lot and need a sim card for overseas. Tmobile has you covered but not for every country and it is really needed to have this sim card slot. I will stay with my iphone 13 pro max for a while.

"so beloved that we were willing to use the metric system for it" two zingers in one! hahahaha

I get removing the physical sim and the tray removes one ingress point for damage or failure. I think it’s a cool move. But I am also one that travels often. I like knowing that I can pop in a sim on the cheap when I travel and don’t have to worry too much about expensive data when roaming. But now when I travel at least for the next 2 years, I’m sure carriers are going to price eSim plans high as they know for sure that the ones asking for this are customers with an expensive phone and this might be their only option. So better waterproofing for the next 2 years, but at a slight increase in data roaming for a few months… I really hope all cellular carriers and phone manufacturers adopt this fast so the prices stabilize sooner than later

Reupload?

My question is where are they going to put an external identifier then? When a phone comes in for repair with a broken screen, if it won't boot for the serial to be read off a computer, are they now putting the serial or imei on the phone's exterior? Also this means there's even fewer ways for someone who doesn't have more than one Apple device to make a theft and loss claim using their Apple ID unless they have more than one Apple product. Previously you could at least go to your carrier and get a new SIM, put that in a friend's old phone and then get a code to make a claim. Honestly this just feels like a bit of courage nobody was asking for. Hopefully the carriers have ironed out everything with eSIM because last year's iPhone 13 launch was a bit of a mess with some carriers not shipping SIMs but also not having the eSIM auto activate. Also are they going to be storing the eSIM in a place that won't be removed by a full restore? Because again I've run into situations where erasing the phone ended up erasing the eSIM. At which point now that customer who ended up erasing their phone as a trouble shooting step has to travel to their carrier store and get them to give them an eSIM because they can't sign into their device after erasing it even if they do have the correct trusted number. On the plus side this might force more people who are trying to set up a phone to do so with the sales people of the carrier they want to be on, so instead of going and getting an account setup and then taking a SIM and sticking it in a friend's old iPhone that is locked to a different network, they'll find out they can't use that phone immediately. Ultimately I think this was something that was done to try and deter some sort of crime ring they stumbled upon that was exploiting the fact that people with stolen phones often weren't cutting off service to their SIMs. But part of me thinks they don't realize how many more problems this will create for users. (Or maybe they've found a big link between people not getting new SIMs and that causing network problems?) I want to assume the best, but since they haven't given any sort of motive I think they just decided eSIM was a smaller less failure prone design.

OK, so I've been exclusively using eSIMs since 2020. I still think this is a bad move. Why? The carriers worldwide have very different way of implementing this. My Ukrainian eSIM, just needs to be removed from old phone and scanned in the new phone to be transferred. My Indian eSIM requires a multi-step registration procedure, which involves getting a new QR code for new phone, but also requires access to both old and new phone to do so. My Russian eSIM requires a visit to store in Russia to regenerate new one (for this reason I stuck with physical SIM for Russia). Some eSIMs need an app to provision, sometimes those apps are not available in your country or origin and you need to visit the store in another country. Now imagine a traveller, who has multiple eSIMs from multiple countries where those numbers are important, linked to bank accounts, etc. and has to buy a new phone.

No SIM is a dealbreaker for me. I travel, for work, where e-SIM is only supported for people with POSTPAID contracts accounts. That doesn’t work for people who travel in and out of countries on short term basis.

"so beloved Americans were actually willing to use the metric system." Lol. Fact.

Tbh I think physical sims are going to be seen as a relic from the past - it’s so dumb to have something physical tied to your phone # when you think about it

Genuine question… how many general users are swapping phones regularly? How many are traveling internationally regularly? It seems like this is only a problem for a select few, but I would love to know if this will affect more users in their everyday usage.

eSIM is likely the way of the future . However, the likes of Apple and Samsung don’t only sell devices in the US. In developing countries, infrastructure for eSIMs is just not at the level that it is in so-called first world countries. In many parts of the developing world, feature phones are still a reality. At the same time, for affordability reasons, having multiple SIM cards that people can easily swap between carriers and devices is another big reality. Once again, Apple, as it did with the 3.5mm headphone jack, has taken something away in the name of ‘progress’ that only serves a select segment of the population and is likely to have big cost implications on the majority

Until they bring the sim version (if they ever do) to the US I'll just stick with my 12ProMax. eSim doesn't sound bad and has its benefits but, part of the tech worldwide for eSim isn't fully adopted in some markets. Apple could had waited till the 15 to do this but 🤷🏾‍♂️.

I had trouble on AT&T. I came from an iPhone 12 Pro. Earlier in the week I had gone to AT&T to transfer my physical SIM to an eSim as I was having difficulty. Once I received my iPhone 14 Pro I still was not able to transfer m y existing eSim on the 12 to the new 14. I was on chat with AT&T for about an hour and a half, but it was resolved. I'm ok with going in on eSim, but AT&T needs to make it as simple as possible, both for Prepaid and Postpaid customers.

Here's a real life situation in my country. The poor here make a living by selling SIM cards and the telcoms are reluctant to release esim cards, especially during this time of poor economic conditions. It's not technical problem for them and they could do it 4 years ago, but it will wipe out the source of income for these small business owners instantly. So, do we progress technologically and sacrifice these people?

Apple will loose customers over this it’s not like the headphones jack or the battery 80% per cent of people world 🌎 swap their SIM cards to a different phone twice each year nerds up to 50 times, I love the iPhone but I wouldn’t ever go eSim. It just a change individuals do not need or want particularly..

Will it prevent sim hijacking?

Apple ultimate goal is to delete everything. Including the screen so we’re walking around with a slim brick with an apple logo on it

Since in China the 3 biggest carriers (a huge market for Apple), made clear that they don't have plans to bring the eSIM anytime soon, Apple will always have physical sim models. In fact many parts of the world still can't implement this tech yet.

I want a SIM card so I can stick my work SIM in my new phone without involving, or worrying about, or fighting with, corporate IT. I expect I am not authorized to swap to an eSIM, and corporate IT often doesn't want to deal with outliers, so I could be out of luck without a SIM slot. I've checked the Canadian specs and the AR model a few times since last week to re-confirm my new phone has a SIM slot as I've read various reports of Canadian models being eSIM only (which has caused me some anxiety).

Here is my problem with eSIMs: they're not yet widely offered. And the best bets to get one at the moment are with international mobile operators, which do NOT come cheap. You're looking to spend at least $20 for 3 GB on average.

My one worry about eSIM is what happens when I visit another country? My family takes a trip to Mexico every year, will I immediately loose cellular service for the duration of my stay?

Switched from Apple to Android from time to time. Will stay with Android moving forward!