On the flip side, the cellular providers won’t catch up until they’re forced. They still haven’t bothered with carrier side RCS. Apple’s going eSIM as much as possible now, and how much you want to bet Samsung and Pixel will follow through within a year or two?

But none of that diminishes the pain points for those of you traveling internationally this year, I know.

There is a study out there that suggests that middle class Americans only travel internationally once per decade, and that includes Mexico and Canada. I’m guessing that Apple figured out that they could save a few bucks in costs and operational efficiency per phone by removing the physical sim. That extra profit was enough to screw over the small minority of us who have the privilege of visiting other countries pretty often.