iPhone 14’s biggest change might be a feature removal

It may not be long before physical SIM card slots are a thing of the past – at least as far as iPhone is concerned. While previous rumors have signaled Apple’s intention to drop the SIM slot and rely only on eSIM, a new report says this phase-out could begin with some iPhone 14 models. Should today’s news turn out to be accurate, then the iPhone 14 lineup would be a big step toward Apple dropping physical SIMs entirely.

This report comes from MacRumors, which received a document from an anonymous tipster suggesting that Apple will launch eSIM-only iPhones by September 2022. That timeframe aligns with the expected reveal of the iPhone 14 family, indicating that some or all of the phones in the line will lose the physical SIM slot in favor of eSIM.

There are a couple of things to note about this report. First off, assuming this tipster is anonymous to MacRumors and not just us, then it’s hard to know if this contact is a reliable source. Secondly, MacRumors says that the leaked document doesn’t mention Apple or the iPhone specifically, though it also says that the document is “seemingly legitimate.”

MacRumors points to previous rumors which claimed that the transition to eSIM-only would happen with iPhone 15, so even if it doesn’t happen with 2022’s iPhones, there’s been some suggestion that Apple is attempting to make the switch soon. Modern iPhones already support eSIM in addition to physical SIMs, and in fact, the iPhone 13 lineup can use Dual SIM with two eSIM cards, making them the first iPhones to do so.

Other iPhones dating back to the iPhone XR have Dual SIM modes that support eSIM but require that the other SIM be a physical nano-SIM card. So, we’ve slowly seen Apple build out support for eSIM in modern iPhones, but it has yet to take the jump and make eSIM the only SIM format supported by its phones.

For now, however, we’ll say to take this rumor with a grain of salt, at least until there are more corroborating leaks and evidence. Apple may very well be plotting an eSIM transition for the iPhone, but a document that doesn’t directly name either the company or iPhone by name isn’t exactly the hard evidence we’re looking for.

Still, it isn’t hard to imagine a future where the physical SIM slots disappear not just from iPhones but from smartphones in general. The big question is when that switch happens, and assuming today’s report pans out, Apple could have the transition underway for its phones as early as next year. We’ll let you know in either case, so stay tuned for more, or just drop down the iPhone 14 leak rabbit hole right this minute.