What is an eSIM, is it better than a physical SIM, and which phones are eSIM only?

By Nirave Gondhia Published September 11, 2025

The world of eSIMs has taken a huge step forward over the past month, as first Google launched the eSIM-only Pixel 10 range in the US, and then Apple expanded the regions that were eSIM-only for the iPhone 17 range. 

The latter is especially prescient, because the new ultra-thin iPhone Air — undoubtedly the star of everything Apple announced during its Awe dropping event — only supports an eSIM globally, including in China, the world’s biggest holdout when it comes to the eSIM standard.

As more phones adopt the eSIM-only approach, inevitably, more of the best phones will likely switch to only supporting an eSIM. As Apple promotes real, tangible benefits for eSIM to customers to prepare them to make the switch, and desirable devices like the iPhone Air push customers and carriers to also make the switch, the new eSIM-only future is fast approaching.

What is this new (or old) SIM standard? What’s the history of the SIM card, and which phones only support an eSIM, and in which regions? Let’s take a look at the eSIM, the best — or worst — thing to happen to tech, depending on who you ask.

The first SIM card was made in 1991 by the German company Giesecke+Devrient, and was the size of a credit card. The modern form factor of smaller SIM cards that can fit in phones originated with the mini SIM, launched in 1996, which was commonly used in phones with removable batteries until the advent of the iPhone.

The inevitable eSIM-only future isn’t Apple’s only advancement in SIM technology, as the company ushered in the micro SIM era in 2010 with the iPhone 4. As phones continued to shrink in size, and industrial phone design involved maximizing every square inch of internal space, the SIM card had to shrink in size as well.

Enter the nano SIM. Launched just two years after micro SIM, it’s been the de facto standard inside most modern phones for the past thirteen years. However, considering the history of the SIM card, an eSIM-only future feels inevitable.

The eSIM was first launched on phones just two years after the nano SIM, but the standard has existed for IoT devices since as early as 2010. First launched in March 2016, it took just 18 months for the first phone to launch with eSIM support, the Pixel 2 range. 

This ushered in an era of the eSIM, or embedded SIM. Simply put, this incorporates SIM card technology into the phone itself, rather than relying on a physical SIM card to access a network. This means it should be easy to add an eSIM when you travel, switch carriers, or need to store two SIMs on one phone.

The latter is the best reason for the existence of the eSIM: most phones can store up to eight embedded SIMs, although only two SIM cards (whether both physical, both eSIM, or a combination of the two) can be active at the same time. 

Why might this matter? If you visit a country frequently — whether on vacation, or due to strong ties — you may find you want to have a local phone number. Similarly, you may also decide you want to use one of the best eSIMs for roaming, such as Airalo or Holafly. Instead of needing to find a local SIM card as soon as you land — or a spare phone to store that spare SIM card — you can add them all to a phone, and turn them on as needed.

Those are the key benefits, but eSIMs have a few distinctive problems that ultimately make them less convenient for customers and carriers alike.

The biggest problem is the convenience of the eSIM, or lack of it. If you have an eSIM enabled on your phone, it’s the most convenient way to switch between different phone numbers or carrier networks. 

Yet, if you don’t have an eSIM installed, or you get a new phone, the eSIM will be inherently more frustrating than moving your SIM card between phones, at least in the near future. For many years, you couldn’t transfer an eSIM between different phones — and you often had to request it with your carrier — but the future looks much brighter.

Android 16 and iOS 26 make it easy to transfer the eSIM between phones, even when changing platforms. While some carriers require you to contact them — whether for legal or operational reasons — the eSIM is becoming more convenient to transfer. 

However, activating an eSIM is still much harder than it needs to be. Some carriers require you to use their app or support channels to request a new eSIM, while others offer a more seamless integration, allowing you to set up and activate the eSIM directly on your phone. 

The latter is the approach that the best iPads have taken to date, and it’s the eSIM-only future that I’m hopeful for, as it’s easy to use, straightforward, and user-friendly even when accepting payment details. As more phones make the switch to eSIM-only, it feels inevitable that the user sign-up and management flow will also be upgraded.

Here’s a running list of every phone and country that is sold without support for a physical SIM card. The majority of phones still use a nano SIM card alongside an eSIM, although some phones in Asia don’t support the same global eSIM standard.

Phones in China require further consideration as the iPhone Air is the first phone to support the eSIM standard in China. The country has been a particularly noteworthy holdout due to its stringent “Know Your Customer” (KYC) requirements, but Apple’s influence has finally broken through. Only China Unicom supports the eSIM standard on the iPhone Air, but it’s a big step towards the eSIM-only future.

Those caveats aside, let’s examine which phones are sold as eSIM-only, starting with the most recent releases.

As you can see, Motorola was the first to launch an eSIM-only phone back in 2020, but the high price and unique form factor meant that it wasn’t as impactful as the iPhone’s switch two years later.

This year’s eSIM step-up will be even more impactful. Alongside the global eSIM-only iPhone Air, Apple also revealed that the eSIM-only iPhone 17 Pro has a larger battery that delivers up to two hours of extra video playback battery life. 

This is the first time a company has delivered a tangible benefit to an eSIM-only phone, and other phone makers will inevitably follow suit. It also means that customers will learn to expect these tangible benefits for eSIM-only phones going forward, and even extra battery life is likely a worthwhile tradeoff. 

I suspect I’m not alone in feeling that the tangible benefit of extra battery life is worthwhile, especially as eSIMs become far more convenient globally. Yes, eSIMs are less convenient, but if carriers and phone makers can continue to reduce these pain points, it will eventually become as convenient as a physical SIM card.

The iPhone Air is a particularly important device in the context of an eSIM-only future. As Apple’s first foray into an ultra-thin world — which is likely to continue with next year’s iPhone Fold — it’ll be one of the more popular iPhone releases in recent years. 

Many carriers currently lack the technology to support eSIMs, while others have operational practices that frustrate, rather than delight, customers. Yet, the iPhone Air is such a big launch that these companies will hasten or create plans to address these challenges, especially as many of the best phones will likely follow suit in the near future.