The 2022 iPhone SE has eSIM and kept its SIM tray

Yes, and with a tray as well

The iPhone SE (3rd gen), released in 2022, supports eSIM. It also has a nano-SIM tray. You can run a physical SIM and an eSIM at once — a home number in the tray, a travel data plan installed digitally, both live.

That is the plain answer. The more interesting part is the company it kept.

The year Apple started removing trays — and didn't remove this one

2022 is the year the iPhone 14 arrived, and every iPhone 14 sold in the United States shipped without a SIM tray at all. Those handsets are eSIM-only: the same models sold outside the US kept the tray, but in the US the slot is gone.

The third-generation SE, launched the same year, kept it.

So the SE, the cheaper phone, can do something the flagship sold beside it in the US cannot: accept a physical SIM you buy over a counter. If you own one, you have the more flexible handset of the two for travel, and it is worth understanding why that is an advantage rather than a leftover.

Why the tray still matters on a trip

An eSIM-only phone can only ever get connectivity that someone will sell you over the internet. That is fine most of the time, and occasionally it isn't:

• The country's cheapest data is on a counter SIM. In a lot of places, local prepaid rates undercut travel eSIMs substantially, because you are buying from the network instead of a reseller. With a tray you can take that option; without one you cannot.
• You need a local number. For a delivery, a taxi app, a booking confirmation, a bank verification. Travel eSIMs are frequently data-only.
• Something goes wrong. An eSIM that fails to activate, a provider with no coverage where you actually are, an account you cannot log into. A shop selling SIM cards is a fallback the eSIM-only phones don't have.

On the SE 3, you get to choose per trip, which is the right way to make this decision. Our country guides show where the local SIM wins and where a travel eSIM is genuinely the better buy.

Setting it up before you fly

The install needs a working internet connection, so do it at home:

1. Buy the plan and open the email with the QR code.
2. Scan it with the phone, and give the line a name you will still recognise in six months.
3. Set the travel plan as your data line; leave calls and texts on your home number.
4. Turn data roaming off on the home line. This is the step people skip, and it is the one that produces a bill.

The menu wording shifts between iOS versions — look for "Add eSIM" or "Add Cellular Plan" under mobile data. If you want to confirm the hardware first, *#06# should show an EID alongside the IMEI.

What we can't tell you about it

Two honest gaps. We are not going to state how many eSIM profiles this handset stores, because that has changed across iOS releases and a stale number is worse than none — check on the device, and delete plans you have finished with if an install is refused.

The second gap is your specific handset: a carrier lock will block a third-party eSIM even though the chip is present. The SE line is sold on contract more often than the flagship line, so this is worth testing rather than assuming: put a SIM from another network in the tray and see if it registers.

If you are checking other handsets in the household at the same time, the compatibility list has them, and our cheapest eSIM comparison covers the plans themselves.