An eSIM is a SIM card that arrives by email
Your phone already has the chip. Buying an eSIM buys the profile that switches it on for a network. Nothing is posted, nothing goes in the tray, and your own number stays where it is.
Next to a travel SIM card
| Travel SIM card | eSIM | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get it | Posted, or collected at a counter | Emailed as a QR code |
| How you fit it | Open the tray, swap the card | Scan the code in Settings |
| Your own number | Comes out while you travel | Stays in and keeps working |
| If you lose it | Gone | Still on the phone |
| Setting it up | After you land, at the airport | At home, before you fly |
Does your phone have one?
Open your phone dialler and type
If an EID appears alongside the IMEI, your phone has an eSIM. No EID means no eSIM, whatever the model lists below says.
A phone still being paid off on a carrier contract is often locked to that carrier and will refuse a second network, even with a working eSIM chip. Your carrier can tell you, and can usually unlock it once the contract is settled.
If you are not sure, buy anyway. We refund in full any time before the eSIM connects to a network, so a locked phone costs you nothing but the time.
XS, XS Max and XR (2018) and everything after.
Any iPhone bought in mainland China. Apple sells those with two physical SIM trays and no eSIM.
S20 series and later, Note 20 series, and the Z Fold and Z Flip lines.
Some regional variants, including several sold in mainland China and Hong Kong, ship without eSIM.
Pixel 3 and later, bought outside Japan.
Pixel 3 models sold in Japan have no eSIM.
Recent flagships from Huawei, Oppo, Motorola, Sony and Honor often support it.
Mid range and budget phones usually do not, and mainland Chinese variants rarely do.
Manufacturers change this by model and by region, so treat the lists as a guide and the EID check as the answer.