Apple has removed the ability to use a physical SIM card in their soon to be released iPhone 14/iPhone 14 Pro with the removal of the SIM Tray. This means existing iPhone users will not be able to pop-up out their SIM card and use it in their shiny new iPhone 14. This also means for people who travel internationally who opt to buy and use local physical SIM cards to avoid data roaming fees won’t be able to do so via this method (though they can use an eSIM option instead).
Apple added plenty of new features to its latest iPhones, including a nifty display cutout on the iPhone 14 Pro it’s calling the Dynamic Island. But as is so often the case with the company, Apple gives and it takes away, and the feature it’s removing this time is the physical SIM slot. On US models, the company is going all in on eSIM technology.
Will Android phone manufactures follow Apple’s lead? Does this mean the end of physical SIM cards in favor of eSIM options such as Airalo? What is interesting is Apple is only doing this for phones sold in the United States. Not sure if they are using US users as a ‘guinea pig’ to test the waters on how consumer are going to respond and/or what possible government backlash they may get. We’ve seen this happen in other countries with the Brazilin Government’s sanctions against Apple for not including a charging brick with new iPhones or the EU ‘s new rules for Smartphones and Tablets.
via engadget
