SIM card trays may disappear from iPhone 15 in Europe
Apple may expand its removal of physical SIM card trays, with European iPhones possibly the next to lose the legacy technological element in the iPhone 15.
A SIM tray
The introduction of the iPhone 14 forced millions of US iPhone users into using eSIMs instead of a physical SIM card. In a probable expansion of that design decision, Apple may make the same change for units bound for Europe. According to sources of iGeneration, Apple stands to make the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro eSIM-only devices when they go on sale in France.
Since Apple doesn’t make a France-specific variant of the iPhone, such a design decision could instead apply to more countries across Europe. Moving to eSIM only will provide Apple with some benefits, including possibly regaining internal space for other components, for example. There are potential waterproofing benefits as well.
This is not the first time the SIM tray removal rumor has surfaced. A rumor from December insisted that only eSIMs would be supported for more models. However, it’s likely that Apple will still offer iPhones with physical SIM capacity for a while longer.
In China, rather than eSIM support, iPhones sold in the country have trays capable of holding two SIMs.