Only if your phone is locked to your carrier. On which case, you were already bound to them and their policies.

I have esims from an international provider when I travel. My phone is unlocked.

So you're now fully bound to your ISP

Do you think you can only use an eSIM on a locked phone? Physical SIM or not, a carrier locked phone is a locked phone. You can use eSIMs on unlocked phones just fine

their proprietary shit app, and their servers providing you a new SIM instead of just swapping a physical piece of hardware in seconds

The difference is you don't have to physically go someplace to get a card or have one shipped to you. You just need the Internet and an app.

You're complaining about semantics with no real difference, just convenience 99% of the time.

For me wanting to switch to a Linux phone in the future it seems less than ideal to have esim instead of physical.

You're right, i need to use this specific app to change my eSIM. But I'm not bound in any way that I can't change providers. In fact, eSIM makes switching to another provider even simpler.

I wouldn't be so dramatic. Transferring an eSIM is only a few clicks, there is no need for searching the little thingie to open SIM compartment, no searching for the right hole to stick it into, no fear of losing the tiny SIM card during the process. I would say the transfer process is pretty hard, mainly for older people or people with bigger fingers. On the other hand, you still need the operator and his servers and proprietary code for the SIM to be useful (unless you are building your own network).

I did not do it yet myself, but I would just install the app on the new device, and register it again - exactly the way I did it the first time. Anytime a new eSIM is created, the old profile will revoked. At least, thats what the FAQ says.