Oliver Haslam on September 14, 2018, 7:15 am

iPhone XS, XR Support T-Mobile’s 600MHz Extended Range LTE, eSIM Support To Come In Future iOS 12 Update

Apple’s iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR are now all official and as we’re now a day or so beyond the announcement event, we’re starting to learn more about what was shown off on-stage. As is always the case with these things, not everything was as it first appeared, with some caveats to be applied to things here and there. There is, however, some good news to enjoy too, so let’s start with that.

According to a tweet by T-Mobile CEO John Legere, the new iPhone XS and iPhone XR will be able to take advantage of the carrier’s 600MHz spectrum, one that is said to be a key part of the company’s 5G push. If you’re a T-Mobile customer, that’s a great bit of news, with Legere claiming that the use of the new spectrum will enable T-Mobile customers to experience the best coverage of all.

That’s where the good news ends, because while Apple announced that the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR all support dual-SIM setups thanks to a physical card slot as well as an eSIM, the company’s own product pages confirm that this will not be a feature available to anyone at launch. Instead, Apple says that eSIM support will arrive as part of an iOS 12 update at some point, although the only time window available is “this year.”

This will not impact those in China whose iPhones will ship with two physical SIM card spaces thanks to Apple’s inability to offer eSIM solutions in the country.

Apple’s newly announced iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR will go up for pre-order this Friday, September 14th, with deliveries set for Friday, September 21st.