Iphone 17 series eSIM-only - no physical SIM

anasz99 wrote:

Losing immediate access to your eSIM number and any services (including MFA codes) tied to it is a disaster. Imagine you are traveling around the world, and your iPhone gets destroyed for any reason. If your carrier’s support is unavailable or too busy, what can you do? What is the contingency plan?

The forced transition from traditional SIM to eSIM must be examined carefully.

Thieves can and do swap the SIM to try to gain access to an account when two-factor authentication using the same number. The use of eSIM entirely defeats this unfortunately fairly common swap.

And if your carrier can’t generate a QR for an eSIM for a replaced phone (bring your carrier credentials), maybe find a more competent carrier.

Usual path for better security and better access without a dependency on phone number would be to configure additional phone numbers or additional two-factor mechanisms, or to use security keys and (separately) carry one or two keys.

Related: Better Securing Your Data, and Apple Acco… - Apple Community

You may not be aware, but you are NOT speaking with Apple here. This is a user to user only forum. If you feel moving to eSim, which, by the way, most carriers around the world have already adopted, is an issue, you can share your thoughts with Apple here --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple

The transition happened years ago... in the US.

in the US, all iPhones now offered are eSIM only.

Outside of the US, all iPhones are eSIM and physical Nano-SIM with the exception of the Air, which is eSIM only.

We are not apple but I like to say that the iPhone 17 series will be e sim only only in these countries according to apple

• Bahrain
• Canada
• Guam
• Japan
• Kuwait
• Mexico
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• United Arab Emirates
• United States
• U.S. Virgin Islands

WheelieNick wrote:

• We are not apple but I like to say that the iPhone 17 series will be e sim only only in these countries according to apple

Bahrain

• Canada

• Guam

• Japan

• Kuwait

• Mexico

• Oman

• Qatar

• Saudi Arabia

• United Arab Emirates

• United States

• U.S. Virgin Islands

That's new.... I hadn't seen that list.

WheelieNick wrote:

• We are not apple but I like to say that the iPhone 17 series will be e sim only only in these countries according to apple

Bahrain

• Canada

• Guam

• Japan

• Kuwait

• Mexico

• Oman

• Qatar

• Saudi Arabia

• United Arab Emirates

• United States

• U.S. Virgin Islands

For those wondering the list is here: Apple debuts iPhone 17 - Apple

And it's the same for the Pro lineup.

This has been in place in the US for over 3 years now. And this year it is expanding to more countries. By the time next year (or the next) nano SIMs will be history. There is nothing to "examine" here. It is called progress.

FelipeV wrote:

This has been in place in the US for over 3 years now. And this year it is expanding to more countries. By the time next year (or the next) nano SIMs will be history. There is nothing to "examine" here. It is called progress.

Yep. With nanoSIM joining ongoing and past “forced transitions” including: floppies, CDs and DVDs, speaker jacks, USB-A ports, ports other than USB, and lately boxes with lots of ports, AFP, ADB, x86, PPC, Carbon, etc.

FelipeV wrote:

I just had to replace my FireWire800 and Thunderbolt 1-2 drives, because they will not be supported in macOS26.

I have not heard of macOS dropping support for Thunderbolt 1 and 2. To the best of my knowledge, Thunderbolt 3–5 host ports should be compatible with Thunderbolt 1–2 accessories, if you use a bidirectional adapter. Apple still sells a Thunderbolt 3 (USB‑C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter. It doesn't transmit power in either direction, so the devices attached directly to it need to have their own power supplies.

I can see some old Thunderbolt devices like RAID boxes not working with modern Macs, if those devices require the use of special device drivers, and the drivers have not been updated to work with Apple Silicon and current versions of macOS.

If you are traveling around the world, and your iPhone gets stolen, and it is locked, and the only SIMs that it has are eSIMs, that could be an advantage.

The thief won't be able to pluck a physical SIM out of your phone and place it into another phone to determine your phone number. As a result, when you have your carrier transfer your number to a replacement phone, you may be spared a bunch of "phishing" messages from the thief, aimed at at fooling you into disclosing your Apple Account credentials, or into clearing Activation Lock.

I will also note that the facts that

• The iPhone 17 Air is significantly thinner than other iPhone 17 models, and
• The iPhone 17 Air is eSIM-only (worldwide)

may not be a coincidence.

We said the same about DVD drives, headphone sockets, ipods. Guess what - Apple led the way and the world followed.

Zachyy wrote:

…

And it's the same for the Pro lineup.

And as for that other model announced, iPhone Air is eSIM worldwide.

I just had to replace my FireWire800 and Thunderbolt 1-2 drives, because they will not be supported in macOS26.

Actually, you are correct. Only FireWire is going away. Thing is I had some FW to TB1 to TB3 connections and adapters so I got confused.