UK iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max – eSIM-Only Availability and Battery Differences

Julien Roullier wrote:

I saw there was a petition about this subject in Europe. I'm not going to upgrade to the iPhone 17 pro as long I can't buy an eSIM only version in Europe. At this price, I want the product I buy fully optimised.

Do as you like – but IMHO, you're cutting off your nose to spite your face. Here's how the U.K. versions of the iPhone 17 Pro Max and 17 Pro stack up against the iPhone that I use.

For that matter, the U.K. version of the iPhone 17 Pro has several hours longer battery runtime (up to 31/28 hours) than the U.S. version of the Phone 16 Pro (up to 27/22 hours).

The battery runtimes on any of the iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro variants look pretty good to me …

I have given feedback to Apple and probably like everyone says I will get nowhere but it still doesn’t stop me from giving my opinion and many others might feel the same it’s nice that I can chat in this community about it,thanks to everyone here for there input.

croarkzur257 wrote:

I saw there was a petition about this subject in Europe. I'm not going to upgrade to the iPhone 17 pro as long I can't buy an eSIM only version in Europe. At this price, I want the product I buy fully optimised.

You have never had that option in europe before, what is so new?

I can imagine petitions about 17 Air not having a SIM tray, or next year if all iphone 18 are eSIM only.

croarkzur257 wrote:

I saw there was a petition about this subject in Europe. I'm not going to upgrade to the iPhone 17 pro as long I can't buy an eSIM only version in Europe. At this price, I want the product I buy fully optimised.

What does that even mean? All iPhones sold in the EU are fully optimized for the market they are being sold. This entire thread is just a mystery to me. The iPhone 17 models regardless of the market they are manufactured for have a longer battery life expectancy (depending on how they are actually used) than the outgoing iPhone 16 models.

What I find truly amusing about this is when Apple started offering eSim only iPhones in the US, the angst over this was amazing. Now, three years later, some are upset they aren't getting an eSim only phone in some other countries.

Wantesim wrote:

Well I was going to go for the I phone 17 pro max but as its sim only and you cannot buy e sim in the uk I’m not upgrading what’s the point of paying the same price for a smaller inferior battery it’s near enough the same as last gen very annoying Apple.

Comment withdrawn. Do not feed the trolls.

If you had actually read my post you would realise that I know we have e sim I’m saying I would like an i phone with eSIM only so I could purchase the 5088 mah battery not the 4823 mah which comes with the uk version of the iPhone because you have to have a sim tray.

Wantesim wrote:

If you had actually read my post you would realise that I know we have e sim I’m saying I would like an i phone with eSIM only so I could purchase the 5088 mah battery not the 4823 mah which comes with the uk version of the iPhone because you have to have a sim tray.

If you read the answers you would know that you cannot buy it in UK, but if it is what you want then suggest it https://apple.com/feedback

This forum is getting very mixed up it’s not in order I know I cannot buy an eSIM only in the uk and yes I have already sent feedback to Apple I was commenting on tw_1 post which also hasn’t read the chat sorry that this is confusing everybody.

Wantesim wrote:

This forum is getting very mixed up it’s not in order

That's because the default Forum sorting these days is by "Rank" – which often makes it nearly impossible to follow long conversations.

I'd suggest changing your Forum preferences so that your "Default thread sort" is "Oldest". That way, at least things will clear up once you log in.

Servant of Cats wrote:

Wantesim wrote:

This forum is getting very mixed up it’s not in order

That's because the default Forum sorting these days is by "Rank" – which often makes it nearly impossible to follow long conversations.

I tried my best in FHB to get that changed. I have now lost any hope of getting it fixed.

I have been using several eSIMs on my iPhone XR for many years now. I'm not interested in a physical sim tray, that I will not use, and that is going to make the battery capacity of my iPhone 17 pro lower. If I buy the iPhone 17 pro, I don't want to pay a premium price for an outdated technology (physical SIM card), which is not going to be useful to me, and have a lower battery capacity, while some others can get the full premium experience in Canada or Japan, or.... I'm from France. Apple should offer the possibility to buy the eSIM-only iPhone 17 pro to Europeans. I'm disappointed. I need to renew my device. But maybe the iPhone isn't the smartphone I need after all, as it doesn't satisfy my European needs.

It's so disappointing Apple doesn't offer European customers the ability to buy the eSIM-only iPhone 17 pro (A3522). I want bigger battery, and I'm not interested in physical SIM card. I'm in France. Physical SIM card are outdated. eSIMs are common in France. I have been using them for several years now.

croarkzur257 wrote:

I'm not interested in a physical sim tray, that I will not use, and that is going to make the battery capacity of my iPhone 17 pro lower. If I buy the iPhone 17 pro, I don't want to pay a premium price for an outdated technology (physical SIM card), which is not going to be useful to me, and have a lower battery capacity, while some others can get the full premium experience in Canada or Japan, or.... I'm from France. Apple should offer the possibility to buy the eSIM-only iPhone 17 pro to Europeans. I'm disappointed. I need to renew my device. But maybe the iPhone isn't the smartphone I need after all, as it doesn't satisfy my European needs.

Do as you please – but the battery runtime on the European versions of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max looks pretty good to me.

It really sounds to me like this is a "d**mned if you do, d**mned if you don't" situation for Apple. They made U.S. phones eSim-only and there were howls of protest by people who swore that they needed to use physical SIMs – and that they would not buy iPhones without physical SIM trays, because they supposedly weren't as good as the ones sold elsewhere.

Now people in this thread are howling about iPhones with physical SIM trays because the trays are there.

I suppose that Apple could have simply released the U.S. phones with the same-sized batteries as the European ones, not letting on that the removal of the SIM tray would have allowed for a slightly larger battery. But instead, they made use of the tiny bit of extra space in the eSIM-only models … and no good deed went unpunished.

croarkzur257 wrote:

I have been using several eSIMs on my iPhone XR for many years now. I'm not interested in a physical sim tray, that I will not use, and that is going to make the battery capacity of my iPhone 17 pro lower. If I buy the iPhone 17 pro, I don't want to pay a premium price for an outdated technology (physical SIM card), which is not going to be useful to me, and have a lower battery capacity, while some others can get the full premium experience in Canada or Japan, or.... I'm from France. Apple should offer the possibility to buy the eSIM-only iPhone 17 pro to Europeans. I'm disappointed. I need to renew my device. But maybe the iPhone isn't the smartphone I need after all, as it doesn't satisfy my European needs.

Then don't buy one. It doesn't matter to anyone here what you buy or why you buy it. You should always buy the phone that best meets your needs. Good luck finding another premium phone in Europe without a SIM Slot. Google Pixel? Nope, they have one. Samsungs newest premium phones? Nope they have one.

ric138 wrote:

Absolute rubbish! You can by an eSIM in the UK, I have one on my iPhone 15!!! please get your facts correct

The MVNOs are catching up in UK but the most popular, Lebara, is lagging in this regard, maybe they will have eSIM this year.

I have Giff Gaff and Spusu eSIMs, I will NOT pay O2 or EE prices for the same networks!