Don't panic! The iPhone 15 still has a physical SIM card

The iPhone 15 is here, and the humble SIM card has been spared for one more year. While iPhones sold in the United States have been eSIM-only since the iPhone 14, Apple has yet to implement that change in any other markets. 

That's probably for the best. 

eSIM is exciting technology, but the state of eSIM in Australia isn't great. It's not much better than it was this time last year. 

While all the major telcos offer it, uptake from smaller providers is still very limited. No MVNOs have added eSIM support since the iPhone 14 launch last year. Circles.Life is testing the tech, but hasn't made it available to all customers just yet. 

Until the majority of smaller providers offer eSIM, anyone with an eSIM-only iPhone would have a much smaller number of providers to pick from. That doesn't matter if you're buying an iPhone on a plan, but locks you out from 23 of the 31 providers we track in the WhistleOut database if you own your iPhone outright. 

eSIM also comes with its own complexities, like how you move it from one device to another. Thankfully Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone have all got fairly elegant (typically app-based) solutions to this, but it's still an issue on some smaller providers. Kogan Mobile requires you to order a new eSIM and then contact support to get your account moved over, while Lebara doesn't even have any documentation about moving your eSIM to another. 

It feels inevitable that Apple will eventually go all-in on eSIM globally. Let's just hope the Australian telco market will be when it does. 

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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