Apple has finally done it: after the past three generations of the iPhone were eSIM-only in selected countries, the new iPhone Air is eSIM-only in every country where it’s officially sold around the world.
However, this isn’t the only change to the eSIM status for the entire iPhone 17 series around the world, as Apple slowly pushes us towards a future where all of its phones are eSIM-only… everywhere.
As different countries have varying levels of eSIM support across all carriers — and no party wants to exclude carriers who haven’t fully rolled out the eSIM — as well as prepaid versus postpaid offerings for travelers, the rollout of eSIM-only iPhone models is likely to take considerable time.
In the meantime, here are the countries that are eSIM only, and one key reason you might want to buy an eSIM-only iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro Max.
One benefit of the eSIM-only iPhone 17 Pro
There’s one key reason you may want to buy an iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro Max that’s eSIM-only: a bigger battery.
For the first time, Apple acknowledged why an eSIM-only iPhone is beneficial by removing the SIM tray entirely and adding a slightly larger battery. In a bid to entice customers to switch to eSIM — likely ahead of plans to move to eSIM-only across the globe — the company went to great lengths to extol the benefits of eSIMs, and capped it with the larger battery.
It’s unclear what size the additional capacity is, but Apple said it provides an extra two hours of battery life when playing videos, to a total of up to 39 hours. If you’ve been on the fence about eSIMs — and you don’t travel that often — you may find this a particularly useful benefit.
It’s worth noting that the extra battery life is only on the Pro models, with the regular iPhone 17 battery life the same whether it’s eSIM-only or supports a physical SIM card tray.
These countries are eSIM-only for the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max
Last year’s iPhone 16 series was eSIM-only in limited countries, but Apple has now added several key countries. One workaround for the eSIM-only models sold in the US had been to buy a Canadian version that also supported mmWave and the necessary network bands used by US carriers. However, this year, that loophole has been closed as Canada has also joined the ranks of eSIM-only countries.
Here are the countries where all models of the iPhone 17 will be eSIM-only, lacking a physical SIM card tray.
- Bahrain
- Canada
- Guam
- Japan
- Kuwait
- Mexico
- Oman
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- United Arab Emirates
- United States of America
- U.S. Virgin Islands
The list has mostly added countries throughout the Middle East, where there has been a significant push from carriers and phone makers to adopt eSIMs over physical SIM cards. Incidentally, carriers in these countries also used to charge a fee to swap or activate your physical SIM card, but it’s unclear whether this is still the case for eSIMs.
You can still buy certain iPhone 17 models with a SIM card tray
As Apple mentioned during the keynote, the iPhone Air lacks a physical SIM card slot in every country. This is most surprising given that China lacks broad support for eSIMs, but digging into the details, iPhone Air models sold in China will support an eSIM from China Unicom.
Aside from the iPhone Air, Apple’s traditional eSIM and physical SIM card setup remains the default. Europe, South America, Africa, and most of Asia have access to the standard one-and-one setup, while some countries, such as Hong Kong, China, and Macau, offer iPhones with dual physical SIM card slots.
On its eSIM carriers page, Apple also mentions global eSIM providers like Airalo and Holafly. I’ve tested both of them, and while they make it easy to use an eSIM in many countries, they don’t always work. As I also discovered, sometimes it’s cheaper and simpler to use your home SIM card.
The iPhone Air eSIM move is the beginning of the end for the physical SIM card
It’s always felt inevitable that Apple would force the world to move to eSIMs alone, and while it’s only been the US and specific countries until now, the iPhone Air is just a sign of things to come.
With Apple now forcing carriers to support eSIMs — even if they don’t necessarily want to, or have the infrastructure to do so — this is ultimately the beginning of the end for the nano-SIM card. This is especially prescient as some of the best Android phones — namely the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro range — have also followed Apple’s lead in the US.
Samsung remains a particular holdout — and many Chinese brands lack support for any global eSIM standard — but all of these will likely follow the iPhone Air’s lead. It’s time to bid adieu to the physical SIM card tray, especially if we get larger batteries in turn.
