Does the new iPhone need a SIM card in it? The old phone I'm transferring data from has my SIM card, but the new one not.

I'm trying to transfer from an old iphone SE to a new iphone 12 and it's taking forever. I was wondering if it has something to do with the SIM card. I have one SIM card which is in the old phone. There is no SIM card in the new phone.

At the moment the old phone has the message "Finish on new iphone Keep this iphone near your new iphone while your information is transferred" and there is a circle going round to indicate something is happening. The new iphone simply says "waiting for other iphone"