I am in USA. How to buy iPhone Xs Max Using Dual SIM with two nano-SIM cards?

China, Hong Kong and Macau, will receive the models with dual physical Sim support precisely because there is no eSIM support there.

If you need a model with 2 physical sim cards buy it in China, Hong Kong or Macau.

If you buy in the US you get the model with one physical sim card and one eSIM. There is no way around this. Apple will not sell the dual physical sim iPhones anywhere except China.

You can use the eSIM and physical sims in any configuration you require. Your local carrier can activate the eSIM if it supports it. And you can then use the physical sim with any carrier anywhere including Chinese ones. Note that the iPhone must be unlocked if you want to use 2 different carriers.

If you absolutely need 2 physical sims, then buy the iPhone in China, Hong Kong or Macau. Those are the only places they will be sold in.

Branta_uk wrote:

To purchase a dual SIM XS Max you will need to travel to China or Hong Kong. I suggest HK will be easier unless you speak Chinese, because with its history as a British colony you are more likely to find an English speaker in the store.

While a good suggestion, there may be a problem with it. Aside from the fact that the warranty will only be valid in China, the phone may not work with U.S. providers. The firmware is different in Chinese phones. When I worked for Verizon, we could activate phones from any other carrier as long as they hadn't been intended for sale in China. I don't know if that's true for other carriers but it's definitely something to be carefully investigated.

From an activation point if view you can activate a Chinese iPhone in any network the hardware support. I don’t know if this applies to US CDMA, but on any GSM network it should be ok.

Hong Kong and Macau also have eSim/nano Sim so no dual Nano Sim. Only mainland China has this... Plus all who do buy it from China will have waranty only in China (even if I had a fortunate experience of replacing a Hong Kong phone in Europe). So be careful!

I honestly don’t really get why Apple doesn’t sell this device also in Eastern Europe at least where over 60-70% of phones are dual sim. I understand they want to push eSim but with only 5-6 carriera in Europe supporting this it seems like a bad business to limit this only to China.

My understanding is you can only purchase the new iPhone XsMax or Xr with dual nano SIM cards in China, from what I read the dual nano SIM card feature with not be an option with the iPhone Xs. Still seems to be a fair amount of uncertainity on how this is going to work.

Miller.Denver.1968 wrote:

In my case, I still need another cell phone besides iPhone XS Max, i.e. one phone for US number and another phone for a local number because both numbers need to be working at the same time, which is why I say the eSIM+nano is 'completely useless'

When I am traveling to another county, it is critical to keep my US number working as well.

There are several potential workarounds for your requirement, but you have already decided the US model XS Max is completely useless and you must have dual hardware SIM, so I will not waste your time further.

To purchase a dual SIM XS Max you will need to travel to China or Hong Kong. I suggest HK will be easier unless you speak Chinese, because with its history as a British colony you are more likely to find an English speaker in the store.

Where does it say that the eSIM won't work outside the USA? You do have to be in the USA to set up the eSIM with a USA carrier that supports eSIMs, but then any carrier will just see it as a normal SIM, and if you get a call on the USA number while you are in China normal roaming will apply. The Chinese carrier will treat it as a phone with a USA SIM.

But one could still use the eSIM for the U.S. number (Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile) and the nano-SIM for the Chinese number, right? Just saying, I'm not sure I'd call it "completely useless" just because the local Chinese carriers won't provide the roaming service for the US number with eSIM. Some people would still be happy with a device that has a Chinese phone number when they're in China, and a U.S. number when they're in the U.S. It's not ideal, of course, but it's also not "completely useless."

I'm guessing the dual-SIM models will make their way to the U.S. eventually, perhaps by third-party sellers, eBay, or the like.

The obstructions raised by Verizon have been as legendary as their excuses for not allowing devices to migrate into their service. However, from memory the China issue was a genuine hardware compatibility problem because US CDMA is not the same as Chinese CDMA.

Branta_uk wrote:

The obstructions raised by Verizon have been as legendary as their excuses for not allowing devices to migrate into their service. However, from memory the China issue was a genuine hardware compatibility problem because US CDMA is not the same as Chinese CDMA.

I'm not sure about that as we could activate phones from any other country in the world. Just not the ones intended for sale in China. But, fortunately, it's been a while.

With eSIM for the US number and a nano SIM for the Chinese number, both will work.

https://support.apple.com/HT209044

eSIM is only supported in 10 countries. China isn’t one of them.

Then you will need to wait for the model to be sold in China which will have two physical SIMs and buy it there. It will not be sold in the USA.