The iPhone 17 Pro Gets More Battery Life in Some Countries

As expected, Apple has finally removed the physical SIM card slot for iPhones sold in more countries, marking the first time an eSIM-only iPhone will be sold outside the United States since Apple first made the transition with the 2022 iPhone 14 lineup.

This year, Apple has an extra surprise for those countries that can benefit from a SIM-less life. While the US iPhone 14 Pro through 16 Pro models lacked the physical SIM card, Apple seemingly never did much with that vacant space beyond adding an mmWave antenna.

Now, it’s using the opportunity to add a slightly larger battery. Combined with the new aluminum unibody design of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the eSIM-only versions will get an extra two hours of video playback compared to those that still need to leave room for a physical nano-SIM card.

Unfortunately, which one you can get will largely depend on where you live. The US iPhone 17 Pro models are still eSIM-only, and remain the only ones to feature mmWave support. Apple is now selling a second variation of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Guam, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the US Virgin Islands.