Google's choice to go eSIM-only in the US for the Pixel 10 might actually be a well-timed move by the company. While I was initially concerned that an eSIM-only phone might be a frustrating roadblock for the Pixel 10, several advances in how the US carriers support eSIM, along with a new iOS 26 feature, might actually make it easier than ever to switch your phone.
And it's a good thing too, as despite being available for years and being required for the iPhone in the US since 2022's iPhone 14 line, eSIM has garnered a frustrating reputation among the tech reviewer community that switches phones regularly. I should note that the size of this community is rather minuscule compared with the general public.
In an ideal world, changing an eSIM from one phone to another should be as simple as a couple of taps during your new phone's setup process. And instead of needing to find a paperclip or another tool to eject your SIM card and move it to another phone, that same information would simply transfer over, whether over a local wireless network or by scanning a QR code.
But instead I've seen several colleagues encounter horrifying dead-ends when switching devices over eSIM while the technology and the wireless carriers work out its bugs. For instance, when my colleague David Lumb swapped to the eSIM-only iPhone 15 Pro Max last year, he accidentally transferred his line to the wrong device and found himself without phone service until he could make the trip to a Verizon store. My former colleague Lisa Eadicicco reported losing access to MMS during her own eSIM swap between an iPhone and Android, also on Verizon. I even hear eSIM complaints among idle chatter. A man sitting near me at Starbucks last week was telling his friends about his own issues getting an eSIM to download while in another country.
But these quirks might just be in the past. I reached out to several wireless carriers about how they plan to help move customers over to eSIM, and while we will need to see how these steps work in practice, it's possible that eSIM might become as universal as physical SIM cards.
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iOS 26 might make it easy to switch to Android and back again
Enlarge Image The iOS 26 beta has screens that give instructions for transferring an eSIM from the iPhone to Android. Screenshot by Zach McAuliffe/CNET
Apple's iOS 26 beta is providing a welcome -- and somewhat unexpected -- feature that could make it quite easy to swap from iPhone to Android. The beta includes the ability to transfer an eSIM to Android, which until now required assistance from your wireless carrier.
While we will have to wait for iOS 26's public release this fall to try it out, it's a big move to make it clear that eSIM is meant to be as accessible as the physical SIM card. Currently, Apple's iOS supports converting a physical SIM to eSIM and transferring it, but only if you're moving to a new iPhone. According to a Reddit post spotted by MacRumors, this new feature would generate a QR code that can be scanned on an Android phone to start the transfer. My colleague Zach McAuliffe has been testing the iOS 26 beta and found that tapping into this feature brings up a screen that offers to transfer an eSIM by placing an Android phone next to an iPhone. While features in beta may or may not make it into the official public release, this inclusion bodes well for simplifying an eSIM transfer.
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