There was no mention of whether Apple had expanded its removal of physical SIM support beyond the US, so I went and checked the specs on Apple UK’s site. Somewhat puzzlingly, it lists both physical SIM+eSIM and dual eSIM support:
I wonder what this means? Are there two models to choose from when ordering? Or does a single phone allow both SIM+eSIM and eSIM+eSIM combinations? If the latter, that is a great feature!
Adam, my one quibble with your advice in the article is this:
If you’re using an iPhone 13 Pro or anything older, it’s an easier decision because you’d also gain the features that set the iPhone 14 Pro apart.
Except that you also lose a major feature if coming from an iPhone 12 or 13 mini, namely the ability to have a reasonable sized phone that can also be used one-handed. Until Apple makes another non-massive phone, I think there will be a certain set of people who see the easy decision is to stick with ‘older’ phones.
It is the latter. There is only one model (per country). In the rest of the world it supports either dual eSIMs or nano-SIM+eSIM. In the US, we don’t get the SIM tray and the nano-SIM support. We get just dual eSIM support. I’m not a fan (I would be if they had put that saved tray space to use, but they didn’t), but that’s just the way it is.
Indeed. It seems @ace agrees with you though, since his article did say explicitly:
The iPhone 13 mini disappears from the mix, sadly marking the end of Apple’s 5.4-inch iPhones.
RIP iPhone mini 2020-2023.
It’s a true shame that while for so many products Apple is willing to sell a variant that appeals only to a small segment, when it comes to fancy iPhones, apparently it’s only BIG or HUGE that they deem worthy.
With USB-C finally coming to iPhone, it was clear to me I was going to update my 12 mini.
Unfortunately, Apple has decided to release only cutting board size iPhones, so rather than choosing a fancy device, I’m going to be getting the cheapest low-end USB-C iPhone they sell. If Apple wants to get more of my money, they’ll have to make an iPhone I actually crave.
So regular iPhone 15 with 128GB it is for me.
I look forward to a better camera (the 12 mini’s is fine for most of my use, but I do wish it had better zoom), a new lighter color (boy does this blue 12 mini get hot just lying face down in the sun) and a brand new battery. My 12 mini was at 83% health and its battery life had clearly deteriorated compared to when it was new.
Usually, I would have just had the battery replaced and kept enjoying this for me near-perfect form factor. But USB-C is a must in my book. It’s 2023, I can no longer stand Lightning.
Now why Apple thinks it’s OK to sell top-$ “premium phones” but then equip them with 480 Mbps transfer speeds across their wired USB-C is beyond me. USB2 was introduced in early 2000! That was over 23 years ago!
Talk is cheap. Apparently, unless forced by Android competition (or government regulators), these days Apple sees little reason to push the envelope with iPhone (advertising water resistance on a $800+ phone in 2023 LOL). I guess they’ve become too big, too comfortable, and too lethargic. Indeed, it’s surprising to me that even expensive Androids will often only support 480 Mbps data transfer speeds. Only very few devices clearly spec their USB-C as 10 Gbps (or at least 5). It’s preposterous. An iPhone 15 has at minimum 128 GB storage. At these paltry transfer speeds, you’ll be watching your iPhone transfer data for at least 2-1/2 HOURS just to fill that memory ONCE (and actually I have yet to see a Mac do data transfer over USB2 with anything near the promised ~48 MB/s, usually it’s closer to ~25-30 MB/s → so add another hour). And if you get a 512 GB model, you might as well take a vacation because it’s going to take at least 10 hrs (or 5+ more depending on how bad that USB2 transfer actually is). Just fathom how such a level of colossally uber-lame transfer speed is what you just plunked down >$800 for. In 2023!
Fun fact: USB-3’s 5 Gbps throughput came to market in 2008. 14 years ago!
I really like my first generation SE (2016) for its size. While I don’t have the latest system software, my original battery still shows 90% max capacity. I was really hoping for another small phone. Sigh…
On Apple’s website, I compared my iPhone xxx Max Pros (where xxx is 13, 14 & 15) and the new telephoto lens needs a shake down trial plus CPU changes mid year. Side by side I can stay with my iPhone 14 Pro Max for another year. Wife likes my iPhone 13 Pro Max and it has a SIM card slot for her UK number. I hope the screen will stay blank unless I tap it to view it.
Also staying with my iWatch Ultra. Don’t want screen on all the time with it as well. Not enough changes
Yep, if you’re using an iPhone 12 mini or iPhone 13 mini, I can’t see much reason to upgrade. But that was true last year too. Very sad, and Tonya remains bitter about the fact that the iPhone SE is still larger than she’d like.
I’m still ok with my iPhone 13 Pro. It’s still under AppleCare+ warranty until December, and I’ll go monthly after that. I had an accident a few weeks ago, and got my slightly cracked screen replaced for just 3,700 yen (about $25). I do like camera improvements. And the idea of a lighter titanium sounds nice. As does the USB-C port and some other things. But really, I see no reason to upgrade now. I’ll wait for the 16. Or 17.
I am boycotting because there is no Mini. When the battery gets old in my 13 Mini, I will pay for a new battery. I will do that repeatedly until it no longer can keep up processor-wise. Until then, Apple you are not getting a dollar from me for a new phone. Getting rid of a mini size version is… just stupid. I have an iPad already. I am a guy. I have pants with pockets. I am one of your core life long customers. Come on, man.
Welcome to my world. That’s the way I treat all of my phones, without any protesting anything. When a replacement costs several hundred dollars and a new battery costs less than $100, it’s a no-brainer for me. Eventually, something will fail or some app I really like will demand an upgrade, but until then, I’m going to stick with what works until it stops working.
Wife and I are upgrading from XS and XS Max respectively and from Series 5 watches. Her battery is worse than mine (she’s got the smaller size) but mine is in the needs replacement soon section of battery health…both still mostly last from morning to night but she has had to turn off the always on display to get that. The new sensors and fresh batteries along with the newer faster processor make both of these upgrades Time for us although the iPhones still make it through the day on battery but both of us want the improved cameras as well. Five years is our longest iPhone upgrade time yet though.
I’m getting the 15 Pro to upgrade my 12 Pro. Key points for me are a better camera, the always on display, the dynamic island, and the ability to capture spacial video. I plan to get a Vision Pro asap and like the idea of capture anywhere. My 12 pro will rotate into a role as an underwater camera inside the Oceanic+ housing together with my Apple Watch Ultra and the Oceanic+ dive app.
Additionally, I tried out FaceTime on the Apple TV 4K today after the tvOS and iOS updates. This truly is a killer app. Having FaceTime on my 83" OLED 4k TV and using my iPhone as a camera produced an amazing result. With my phone/camera just propped up under the TV center stage tracked incredibly well and with the large viewing screen the results are game changing for family get togethers. The FaceTime app for Apple TV is very nicely done.
I have an iPhone 13pro. I’m a casual photographer so any camera improvement doesn’t mean much to me. I have a Pixel 7 that I use for photographs most of the time. It takes better pictures IMHO. YMMV.
So how do you transfer from an iPhone with a SIM card to one that only accepts eSIMs? Is it done when you restore your new iPhone from the old iPhone backup?
Transfer what? You won’t try to move the old SIM card to the new phone. It will arrive with the eSIM pre-programmed (if you get it from your carrier) or you will contact your carrier to get a QR code that the phone will scan at activation time to load the eSIM with your account information. After which (maybe a few days later), your old physical SIM will probably stop working.
If you’re talking about transferring anything else (apps, user data, etc.), that can all be done over Wi-Fi. No need for a SIM card of any kind to do that part.
Transferring data and settings works like on any iPhone transfer, that has nothing to do with SIM. “Transferring the SIM”, i.e. porting your cell service to the new phone happens by you relying on your carrier activating the eSIM remotely on the new iPhone when you set it up. If you don’t get a carrier prepared eSIM you have to get their details and get that to the iPhone so it can connect to the carrier and get its eSIM activated (like what people do when they get an eSIM for travel abroad).
Either way, you rely on your carrier activating the new eSIM, i.e. porting your cell service from the old physical SIM to the new eSIM. Once that is complete, the old SIM becomes e-waste.
I’ve said this before, I don’t like that. Anything that makes me turn to the carrier or rely on them configuring something to make my service work is something I try to avoid. I’ve wasted too much time on hold, in shady stores, and dealing with technically inept reps to want to take those risks. I’ve always preferred just relying on my own self: take the little SIM out of the old, plop it in the new, done.
I think here in the US a lot of folks still don’t really get SIMs and think you somehow have to involve your carrier when you change your phone (likely a left over form the old CDMA days, something Europe never dealt with). I would be far more amenable to this eSIM-only iPhone if the saved space were used to get me more battery capacity or give me something else. But as it stands, all I’m getting is a big fat nothing. It’s not like SIM iPhones didn’t already offer support for eSIM or that only eSIM-only iPhones were waterproof. The eSIM-only phones effectively just take away an option without rendering anything of benefit to me (I really don’t give two hoots about what kind of corporate political move Apple is trying to coerce with it).
If I’m lucky the transfer works (Verizon offers a guide with a 24-step process LOL). If not, I get to haggle with one of the companies I least like to deal with (and with T-mobile I actually have a comparably decent carrier). I’m definitely not a fan of being forced to eSIM, but I’m not going to travel abroad just to buy an iPhone either.
Yes, I KNOW that. I buy unlocked iPhones direct from Apple and previously have just moved the SIM over and restored from the last backup of my previous phone. I currently have an iPhone 12 with a SIM card so when I decide to buy a new unlocked iPhone from Apple down the road, I wondered how the data on the physical SIM in the 12 would be transferred to the eSIM.
OK, if I understand your explanation, I would 1. buy the unlocked phone from Apple, 2. call my carrier and ask them to send me a QR code with my account info, 3. scan the code with the new unactivated phone which will load the eSIM and activate the phone, 4. restore from the backup of the iPhone 12 I made immediately before.
Nah, we already saw that only an empty black piece of plastic filled that gap on the iPhone 14. It was the same deal already there (for US phones only).
With Verizon, if you request eSIM activation (which I think can be done via their web site), you’ll get a QR code. Your phone’s eSIM activation (Settings → Cellular → Add eSIM) can be used to scan that code and activate it.
According to Apple, iOS also supports “eSIM Carrier Activation” and “eSIM Quick Transfer”, which are two technologies I didn’t know about until now. These require an active Wi-Fi Internet connection.
With Carrier Activation, you can contact your carrier to transfer your phone number. You may have to provide them information about your phone or scan a QR code they give you. You’ll then be notified that there is a “Cellular Plan Ready to Be Installed”. After clicking through the notification to a button in the Cellular settings, it should install your eSIM data.
With Quick Transfer, you can move your SIM data from your old phone. Apparently even if that phone is using a physical SIM.
And it appears you can also manually enter data if your carrier doesn’t provide QR codes or if scanning it fails.
So you don’t need to bring your phone to a carrier’s store, and depending on who your carrier is, you might be able to do everything on your own without directly involving them.
There is only one model (per country). In the rest of the world it supports either dual eSIMs or nano-SIM+eSIM. In the US, we don’t get the SIM tray and the nano-SIM support. We get just dual eSIM support. I’m not a fan (I would be if they had put that saved tray space to use, but they didn’t), but that’s just the way it is.
