The new iPhone 14 lineup will ship without physical SIM trays – but only in the US. They’ll be able to use two esims at once – and store more than that.

T-Mobile now uses esims to let people test-drive its network for up to three months. As of iOS 16, you can even transfer your esim between iPhones via Bluetooth.

Most major US carriers, and many worldwide, have esim support. Up until the iPhone 13, that meant one esim and one physical SIM. Removing the physical SIM – and the hole in the case it requires – is the next step.

If you’re on a major US cell phone network, you can download an esim directly from Verizon, at & T, or T-Mobile without going to a store.

A carrier that does n’t have esim support or you’re planning to switch to one. This could be the push smaller carriers need to get on board with esims.

Outside the US, the iPhone 14 lineup still includes nano-SIM slots. Outside of the U.S, iPhone 14 still has nano-SIM slots.

Apple spokespeople said the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro can store at least eight esims. This could take some of the sting out of the physical SIM tray, though not all international carriers support esims.

I bought my iPhone 11 when I lived in the Netherlands. It has both a Dutch esim and a physical Verizon SIM.

Physical Sims make it easy to bring your phone to a different carrier or bring your number to a new phone. They’re everywhere, work on all phones, and are easy enough to use. Moving an esim from an iPhone to an Android phone is n’t necessarily trivial.

The SIM tray is n’t necessarily user-hostile for most people. Most people do n’t switch carriers or phones every few weeks. We’ll see how this plays out.

The original text of this article misspelled the name of esim retailer airalo. The esim retailer’s name is missing.