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Samsung often launches its devices with various hardware variations depending on what market they are going out to. The biggest example here that comes to mind is the Qualcomm / Exynos split — the USA and South Korea variants of Samsung flagships usually get a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, while EU and other international models are powered by a similarly-specced Exynos (Samsung’s in-house chip) processor.
International Samsung phones very often have some sort of dual SIM support. Either two physical slots for different SIM cards or — at the very least — one SIM slot and the ability to register an eSIM for a secondary account or number.
Dual SIM support is a niche need — sure
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 does support eSIM — it’s just disabled for its US variants. To top it off, international Z Fold 3 units will also have two physical nanoSIM card slots, and that’s on top of supporting eSIM, whereas US models get one.
Why does Samsung disable dual SIM in the United States?
It probably has to do with carrier relations. Carriers themselves aren’t huge fans of just letting the user subscribe to a competitor and potentially fully switch to them down the line. So, perhaps it’s a part of the partnership agreement that manufacturers enter with carriers to sell their phones through carriers.