Though to be devil's advocate, my current phone has 256gb of storage and I think that only got full when I loaded up a load of content for a long flight. My next phone (ordered already) is gonna be 512gb.
I say all this because I was missing the SD card for years, but finally I'm in a situation where I don't feel like I'm missing it anymore now phones actually come with a reasonable amount of storage.
Still would be nice to have the option. They could even force it to be an A1 minimum card if their reasoning about people using shitty SD cards and trashing performance has any real weight.
It's not just about expanded storage on the device though. I want to be able to read SD cards from other devices (like my dashcam) on my phone. And no, I'm not going to get a USB adapter because I fucking lose those things all the time and cannot find them when I need them
Taking pictures and video, keeping such things, requires expandable storage the better the cameras get.
I'm not bitching at you, playing devil's advocate is awesome. I'm countering that advocacy in the same spirit (and, I hope, not in a seemingly a dickish way, it certainly wasn't intended that way).
Phones has stopped being just phones, and the people making them want us to treat them like a more portable device akin to a laptop, where we use it for everything (mainly so they can figure out a way to profit from that use). Can't do that if we can't store what we need on them lol.
Without real benefit? How about some thief can’t steal my phone and pop out the SIM? How about transferring carriers without needing to wait to get my hands on the new SIM card?
Sure eSIMS have their own cons but reporting like they are a pure downgrade is disingenuous.
International travel practically requires a SIM slot. Buy a $40 prepaid SIM and pop it in your phone, or pay hundreds of dollars for international roaming?
I like esim(s) for the sole feature that "some thief can’t steal my phone and pop out the SIM" and find my device allows me to lock or erase my data on the phone. Current state of esim implementation by carriers doesn't inspire such confidence. So not going esim only, looks to be the better option for now.
I find it absolutely hilarious that for so many years people complained about needing to go through extra steps to swap a phone on CDMA carriers in the US like Verizon and Sprint, instead of just swapping a SIM... yet eSIMs are so popular now which require similar steps.
That would force me to change carriers and have a higher bill as my carrier is only supporting its legacy customers and never had eSIM. Glad my current phone supports both.