One Continent, Two eSIM Worlds: North America at 76.3-82.2%, South America at 44.2-57.7%

Key findings

The same continent, opposite stories

North America scores the highest eSIM compatibility of any region we track, an estimated 76.3 to 82.2 percent. Apple's near-total market presence there does most of the work: since the iPhone 14 in 2022, no US carrier model has shipped with a physical SIM tray, so buying an iPhone in the United States means buying an eSIM phone, full stop. South America tells a different story: our estimate lands at 44.2 to 57.7 percent, weighed down by the largest unidentified-device share of any region we measured, over a third of tracked traffic, a signal of how much of the market runs on rebranded, budget or unofficial-import handsets that resist easy classification.

That South American range lines up closely with our own Mexican study (50 to 60 percent), built independently from national manufacturer market share rather than continental StatCounter data. Both markets show the same structure: compatibility close to universal above the mid-range, close to absent below it. One continent, two device economies, and a compatibility gap of roughly 18.6 to 38 percentage points between its two halves.

Compatibility by brand

Reusable figures (CC BY 4.0)

Quote freely with attribution to Drift Americas and a link to this study:

• North America's estimated smartphone eSIM compatibility (76.3 to 82.2 percent) is the highest of any region we track, driven by Apple's near-universal presence and the US iPhone's eSIM-only design since 2022.
• South America's estimated eSIM compatibility (44.2 to 57.7 percent) is close to our own Mexican study (50 to 60 percent): both markets show near-total compatibility above the mid-range and near-zero below it.
• Since the iPhone 14 (2022), Apple has sold no US model with a physical SIM tray at all: in the United States, eSIM is not an option, it is the only one.

Methodology

Estimates are calculated by weighting each region's smartphone vendor market share (StatCounter, May 2026) against a brand-level eSIM compatibility rate, expressed as a low-high range per brand from its official device support list (Apple, Samsung, Google, Xiaomi and others). StatCounter's "Unknown" category and brands outside the top six per region are combined into a single low-compatibility residual (15 to 35 percent) since this bucket is dominated by budget, rebranded and unofficial-import devices. StatCounter measures web traffic (installed base), not the current year's sales, so figures should be read as a compatibility estimate for phones actually in use, not for this year's shipments alone.

For Asia specifically: this calculation assumes each brand's eSIM policy applies uniformly across the region, which does not fully capture mainland China's own restriction. Since October 2025, only the iPhone Air (A3518) and iPhone 17e (A3635) can activate an eSIM from a Chinese carrier; every other iPhone sold in mainland China, a market with substantial weight inside the continental StatCounter figure, keeps a physical SIM tray. Our Asia range should therefore be read as an upper estimate for a China-inclusive Asia; a single market such as Japan or South Korea would likely score higher on the Apple share of the calculation.

Reference point: GSMA Intelligence estimates 5 percent of smartphone connections were actively using eSIM at the end of 2025, projected to reach 10 percent by the end of 2026, a measure of share of smartphone connections actively using eSIM (not device compatibility) rather than device capability, and therefore not directly comparable to the compatibility estimates on this page.

Transparency

Drift Americas sells travel eSIMs. All assumptions and the brand-level rate table are published above so the calculation can be independently checked or recomputed with different weights. Data questions and interview requests: via driftamericas.com.