Some of last year’s iPhone 14 models removed the physical SIM card. Now, it’s time for the iPhone 15 lineup to follow suit.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro were announced at Apple’s September 2023 event — and there’s a lot to like! All models now have the Dynamic Island, USB-C has officially replaced Lightning, and there are impressive camera upgrades across the board. But what’s the deal this year with the iPhone 15 and SIM cards?
Last year, Apple made a subtle, but significant change to its iPhone 14 lineup. No, we’re not talking about the Dynamic Island or always-on display of the iPhone 14 Pro models, but rather the fact that Apple chose to eliminate the physical SIM card entirely on all U.S. iPhone 14 models.
It was the final step in a process that began four years earlier with the adoption of eSIM technology on the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. Rather than adding a second physical SIM slot, eSIM became Apple’s answer to dual-SIM support, letting you have more than one plan and number on a single iPhone. Two years ago, Apple quietly added a second eSIM to its iPhone 13 lineup, allowing customers to use a dual-SIM setup without needing a physical SIM card. Once that was in place, it was simply a matter of waiting for carriers to be ready to ditch physical SIM cards before Apple could eliminate the SIM slot entirely.
So … what does that mean for the iPhone 15?Does the iPhone 15 have a SIM card?
When Apple took the physical SIM card slot out of the iPhone 14 last year, it was pretty clear that it wouldn’t be coming back. So, it’s no surprise that none of this year’s iPhone 15 models sport a physical SIM slot — at least in the U.S.
Internationally, the answer remains a bit more nuanced. Apple manufactures several versions of each of its iPhone models for use in different countries to accommodate different 5G frequencies and bands. For example, since the introduction of 5G on the iPhone 12, only the model sold in the U.S. supports the fastest high-band mmWave frequencies; other countries only get sub-6GHz 5G.
Similarly, only the U.S. models of the iPhone 14 eliminated the physical SIM slot last year, presumably because only U.S. carriers were ready to go all-in on eSIM. That hasn’t changed with the iPhone 15, so you’ll still get to use a physical SIM card if you purchase your iPhone outside of the U.S. Like the iPhone 13, those international models have two eSIMs, plus a place to insert a physical SIM card.
