Customers getting Pixel 10 phones with SIM slots post RMA in the US

One of the few changes that Google made with the Pixel 10 series in the US was getting rid of the SIM slot. Global variants, however, still retain the physical SIM slot. Looks like US customers who sent their Pixel 10 phones back to Google for RMA are receiving the global variants instead of the US variants. However, these models may not support every 5G band in the US.

According to this Reddit thread, a few Pixel 10 series users who sent in their phones for return merchandise authorization (RMA) in the US received replacements addressing the issues. Reddit user ‘crocsnosockz’ posted first on the r/GooglePixel subreddit stating that they had to RMA their Pixel 10 Pro XL due to a screen issue. While the Google Store support team was very helpful and sent a replacement, it wasn’t a US model that has no physical SIM slot, rather the global variant with a SIM slot at the top.

Another user chimed in with a similar experience, receiving a global variant when they sent in their original US variant that had a hairline scratch on the display. While this does bring back the ability to add a physical SIM to the phone, it may lose support for some 5G bands. One of the commentors pointed out that the global/international variants of the Pixel 10 phones lack support for 5G mmWave and 5G n29/n48/n70 bands.

For most users, the global variant should work just as well in the US as the phones support most networks. However, the original poster did mention that support for 5G mmWave may be important to them and that they would reach out to customer support for a solution.