The iPhone 15 series only uses eSIM in the US, the SIM tray is still available everywhere else

Apple first adopted eSIM with the iPhone XS/XR series and, with last year’s iPhone 14 models, it completely abandoned the traditional SIM slot and only used eSIM on phones sold in the US market. The new iPhone 15 models follow the same path, again only in the US.

There are four variants in total. The US models support dual eSIMs and are the only ones with mmWave. Another version is sold in the rest of North America, Canada, Mexico, and Japan. This version is similar to the global version, as it has one physical nano-SIM slot and one eSIM (dual eSIM operation is still an option, though).

American iPhone 15s

Canadian iPhone 15s

European iPhone 15s

Chinese iPhone 15s

Then there’s the Chinese model (also sold in Hong Kong and Macao), which is the only one without an eSIM – it has a dual nano-SIM tray instead. eSIMs require carrier support and are more common (and easier to use) in some regions than others.

This is probably what keeps Apple from going all-in on eSIM (and in the future iSIM, probably). For now, all iPhones are built the same; those without a SIM tray just have wasted space.