iPhone 14 Pro Max Teardown Reveals Unused SIM Tray Area (macrumors.com) 25
In an in-depth teardown of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, iFixit provides a closer look at the device's internals. "Notably, the teardown includes a photo of the plastic spacer that replaced the SIM card tray on the U.S. model," reports MacRumors. From the report: All four iPhone 14 models sold in the U.S. no longer have a physical SIM card tray and rely entirely on digital eSIMs. The teardown confirms that Apple is not using the internal space freed up by the tray's removal for any other component or added functionality, and instead filled in the gap with a square piece of plastic. Outside of the U.S., all iPhone 14 models are still equipped with a SIM card tray in this space.
As seen in previous teardowns, iFixit provided close-up images of the iPhone 14 Pro Max's logic board, which is equipped with a faster A16 Bionic chip and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 modem that provides both 5G and satellite connectivity. While the standard iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus can be opened from the back side, and feature a more repairable design with an easily removable display and back glass panel, these design changes do not extend to the Pro models. The teardown shows that the iPhone 14 Pro Max continues to open from the front and does not have removable back glass. The internal design of the device is largely unchanged from the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
As seen in previous teardowns, iFixit provided close-up images of the iPhone 14 Pro Max's logic board, which is equipped with a faster A16 Bionic chip and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 modem that provides both 5G and satellite connectivity. While the standard iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus can be opened from the back side, and feature a more repairable design with an easily removable display and back glass panel, these design changes do not extend to the Pro models. The teardown shows that the iPhone 14 Pro Max continues to open from the front and does not have removable back glass. The internal design of the device is largely unchanged from the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Not surprising (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Not surprising (Score:4, Funny)
But they had to remove the sim card slot to save space!
Re:Not surprising (Score:4, Funny)
<zoidberg>In the next version, they could replace the unused SIM tray with a headphone jack, maybe?</zoidberg>
<zoidberg>Awww.</zoidberg>
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models for the rest of the world still need the sim card space
Right. And I suspect that Apple is hedging its bets. They didn't want to spend the development money to rearrange the innards for a US specific model if Europe and the rest of the world say "Nuh-uh." It is my understanding that older Apple phones already support eSim as an option. So the rest of the world and it's regulators and consumer protection laws might block the deletion as it eliminates customer choice. Not being pushovers like the USA is. And then Apple would have wasted that development money.
The
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Re: Not surprising (Score:2)
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I wonder if the sim card slot lowers the dust or water rating of the non us models ?
Doubt it.
I would imagine that that a fairly water-tight esim connector was already being sourced by Apple.
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I suppose that selling a phone without a sim is the dream of The Phone Company to get back to the merry time of the '80 and the monopoly with leased phones.
eSIMs [wikipedia.org] are the same SIM hardware, just attached to the phone and reprogrammable. Current modem hardware in Apple and Google phones allow two SIM profiles to be simultaneously active, while the phone can hold a large number of additional SIM profiles you can swap in and out of the two active slots.
Being able to easily sign up for new services online whenever and wherever you want, or to split your personal or work phone/data/overseas service between different carriers can actually free you from your Phone Co
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Working with IoT cellular devices and eSIMs. It's not quite the 1980's. There is no scary or magic about e-sims. They are just SIMs. It's a chip that does all the things a SIM does (runs Java, yes ... a very stripped down Java), but has a very large reprogrammable area that stores all the data that is normally stored on a SIM card, specifically the secrets used to prove you are you to the network. When you enroll a device with an eSIM there is an API that you download the contents that would normal
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Without a standard and well published API on how to offer the contents of an eSIM to an iPhone this does a real smell test of locking out smaller carriers, etc that don't have the IT staffs on hand to do the integration efforts that apple will demand to allow the iPhone to download a SIM from the operator's SIM API.
On a functional level, this is something that can be done between a carrier and their customer today with a hardware SIM. No need to involve Apple. This is why SIMs were invented. And standardized. I don't see the EU giving up on this capability. Even a standard eSIM loading protocol that multiple vendors could implement (open source tools are a possibility) might be acceptable. I'm even surprised that the carriers have handed Apple the keys to their front door so easily.
Can't just go plunk down $50 of cash for a SIM card that works for 30 days. Now you need an account on a web site and enter a credit card number, etc etc to get your 30 day SIM.
So Apple just locked out all the poo
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shipping eSIM capable phones, watches, and laptops for years now
I'm aware of that.
Some eSIM-only even.
That appears to be such a small portion of the market, it's not certain to succeed.
Re: Not surprising (Score:2)
Iâ(TM)m not defending apple.
However Iâ(TM)m also not going to be just a plain simple âoechange is bad, this is bad.â
You could still do 30 day SIMs. It just requires a web site to load them, not just a stop past a kiosk.
eSIMs have pros, and they have cons. If you want to make the world better, you take the time to understand the pros and the cons and then push for action on the specific cons.
The specific con of eSIMs is: there probably needs to be a standardized âoeprotocolâ /
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models for the rest of the world still need the sim card space
Right. And I suspect that Apple is hedging its bets. They didn't want to spend the development money to rearrange the innards for a US specific model if Europe and the rest of the world say "Nuh-uh." It is my understanding that older Apple phones already support eSim as an option. So the rest of the world and it's regulators and consumer protection laws might block the deletion as it eliminates customer choice. Not being pushovers like the USA is. And then Apple would have wasted that development money.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max appears to have the traces and solder pads for a SIM tray. They just didn't solder one in. So going back would be trivial.
I really wish they would just keep the tray, and let folks that are lucky enough to live where esim can happen, to use that slot for expansion storage. Isn't the SIM card just a TF Flash card?
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The worst part is knowing this means they actually had to spend extra money to remove the SIM slot.
Top Five Hacks for Plastic Spacer Replacement (Score:3, Funny)
Déjà vu (Score:2)
The teardown confirms that Apple is not using the internal space freed up by the tray's removal for any other component or added functionality.
That's exactly what happened when they removed the headphone jack, too. Just a little plastic piece in that corner of the case. Not chips on circuit board, battery encroaching in the area, or anything. Just reduced functionality.
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The teardown confirms that Apple is not using the internal space freed up by the tray's removal for any other component or added functionality.
That's exactly what happened when they removed the headphone jack, too. Just a little plastic piece in that corner of the case. Not chips on circuit board, battery encroaching in the area, or anything. Just reduced functionality.
And that spacer in all cases would go away as soon as all models can be harmonized with the new design. In the case of the 3.5 mm jack, that was the very next model year. In the case of the esim: That's up to the Carriers, worldwide, now doesn't it?
and so how do I travel with an iphone14 cheaply? (Score:1)
Puzzling (Score:2)
Sim cards are quite thin with rounded corners, so what is Apple's problem with them?
Could it be that they have too many useful connections?
Not that it matter to me, I am in the Apple Ultra Insider Leading Edge Invite Only Stupendous Early Adopter program. I am saving the planet by creating no e-waste and burning no fossil fuels. I just have a standing order sending $200 a month to Apple and I get that smug Apple feeling without Apple doing anything so gauche as providing me with any goods or services.