iPhone XS eSIM working for some German owners with iOS 12.1 beta

The technology is working for some people choosing Deutsche Telekom as their second carrier, notes iphone-ticker.de. The carrier is reportedly telling people that they can't convert their primary SIMs to eSIM.

It's possible that the technology is also working with other carriers and in other countries, but there's no word on this so far. Support has to be actively enabled by carriers, so Apple taking the functionality live in the iOS 12.1 beta is only part of the activation.

The first 12.1 betas for the XS and XS Max were issued on Friday, following earlier seeds for other iPhones. It's not known when the finished version of iOS 12.1 will become available, but the update will also include a feature originally meant to launch with iOS 12, Group FaceTime.

At the moment Germany is one of just 10 countries that supports Apple's eSIM technology. The others include Austria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. Dual-SIM support will also be available in China, but only through localized models that replace the eSIM with a slot for a second physical SIM.

It should be possible to configure an eSIM for a primary phone plan, so it's not clear why Deutsche Telekom would impose restrictions.