The Google Pixel 10 is now available for purchase.

longshots

Just buy one from another country.

Keep in mind that Pixel 10 models sold outside the US are expected to retain physical SIM card slots.
My Pixel 7a is the Japanese version that I bought online that was imported to Australia by the wholesaler.
The only thing that matters are bandwidths.

In Australia, 5G utilizes several frequency bands including the mid-band 3.5 GHz (n78), which is widely deployed, and the low-band 700 MHz (n28), as well as some mmWave frequencies like 26 GHz (n258).

The Pixel 10:
5G Sub-6: Bands 1/2/3/5/7/8/12/14/20/25/26/28/29/30/38/40/41/48/66/70/71/77/78
5G mmW: Bands 258/260/261

Most European countries use n78.

traveller09

longshots I am in the US but like the idea of a physical SIM card. Are the Pixel phones all the same aside from physical vs digital SIM? Meaning they aren't designed for specific networks? Sorry in advance for the dumb question.

de0u

23Sha-ger The models sold in US will lack physical SIM support, which is inconvenient for some use-cases.

😠

Hat

23Sha-ger The models sold in US will lack physical SIM support, which is inconvenient for some use-cases.

Are permissions and data (phone, call history, SMS, country code) assigned to apps per SIM/eSIM, or all at once?

23Sha-ger

Hat
This is the same thing from that aspect.
I was talking about the lack of ability to buy a throwaway, local, pseudo anonymous data/voice SIM in the majority of less developed countries where local eSIMs are still not an option, and physical SIMs are sold in kiosks.
There are some global eSIM providers with relatively fair prices, but they generally don't provide a local voice/SMS
number and charge way more than local ones. Not only that, swapping an eSIM between devices or transferring your existing one to a hotspot is not a trivial task anymore with a US phone.
But they went the Apple way and discourage resellers importing US phones to other countries, can understand.

Hat

I wouldn't be surprised if we see the end of physical SIM support for the Pixel 11 in other Western countries next year.

grayway2

Hat not so fast. We, the Europeans largely use physical sim cards.

I know very few people who use eSIM in my country and it's not something people are asking for.

DeletedUser421

grayway2 It’s hard to find statistics about this, but it actually seems like it’s 50%/50% in Europe:
https://scoop.market.us/esim-statistics/

This is on par with North America. Awareness of eSIM seems to be higher in Europe, on average.

From an environmental point of view eSIMs are much better.

nandohyphen1

In terms of appearance, the 10 series is nearly identical to the 9 series, correct?

de0u

DeletedUser421 From an environmental point of view eSIMs are much better.

How much better? If I use a SIM card for two phone lifetimes, I'm discarding/recycling one phone and zero SIM cards. Eventually the SIM card will go bad, but is it a major source of waste? Some businesses get rid of entire laptops every three to five years.

Is there a source supporting the idea that SIM cards are a large fraction of e-waste?

DeletedUser421

de0u You’re right, it’s a tiny fraction of the total amount of e-waste, but it adds up. As with anything related to the environment, I think that it’s incredibly hard to make accurate estimations.

According to the link above:

eSIM Environmental Statistics

4.5 billion plastic SIM card shipments were shipped in 2020.
It is anticipated that the volume of plastic SIM card shipments in 2022 will decrease from 4,36 billion units in 2021 to 3,93 billion units in 2022.
The SIM card sector accounts for approximately 140,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e) annually.
Plastic SIM card has a carbon footprint of 229 grams during their three-year lifetime.
The carbon footprint of an eSIM is 123 grams during its three-year lifetime.
The carbon footprint of plastic SIM cards is approximately 46% higher than that of eSIMs.

23Sha-ger

DeletedUser421
Those micrograms of carbon footprint is Apple's favorite marketing trick.
First the headphone jack, then the charger, then the physical SIM, all with the same excuse.
People still buy USB DACs for proper HD audio, 3d party power bricks with actual fast charging,
writeable physical SIMs to burn multiple eSIM profiles on for easy device swapping and so on.
So all this "environmental concern", is for the birds, I don't buy it. 123 grams in three-years?
Your lungs produce more CO2 each time you exhale :)

In reality, people will have a new factor now to look for when buying a new/used Pixel 10 - the SKU,
if you want a physical SIM, as a backup, or in a place where there is only 2G/3G, or for dual SIM,
you will have to avoid the US models. Just like many people I know avoid the iPhone 14/15/16 US
models exactly because the lack of SIM. But I don't want to derail a Pixel 10 topic just for this cause.

DeletedUser421

23Sha-ger I agree that it’s a tiny amount. It’s inevitable though and I don’t see a huge decrease in privacy. If you care a lot about privacy, go WiFi only.

CO2 coming from your lungs don’t change anything, it’s a closed loop. Your farts probably contribute more, but not much compared to livestock. Anyway, I feel like this is way off topic. Sorry for derailing the discussion.

akc3n

Please use our thread with the latest posted info here:

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/25099-pixel-10-still-too-early-to-ask-us-when-it-will-be-support