Snippet: Apple SIM No Longer Available for Activating New Cellular Data Plans on iPads ☍

Shared on October 3, 2022

Joe Rossignol for MacRumors:

As of October 1, Apple SIM is no longer available for activating new cellular data plans on supported iPad models, according to an Apple support document.

Introduced in 2014, the Apple SIM was designed to allow iPad users to activate cellular data plans from multiple carriers around the world. Initially, the Apple SIM was a physical nano-SIM card, but it was embedded inside later iPad Pro models. Apple SIM was similar to modern eSIM technology, but with more limited carrier support.

I’m not surprised that it had gotten retired, as many carriers stepped away from it or never supported it at all, and most iPads sold in the last few years support eSIM. While Apple Stores have typically offered free carrier SIMs, the physical Apple SIM was $5 and it seemed that many employees didn’t even know it existed. Based on comments to this story, I’d guess the majority of people who even follow Apple had no idea it existed (at least the physical version), it’ll be a neat little footnote in Apple and wireless history.

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