lol, they can track the IMEI. the phone component still works without the SIM, for example to make emergency calls. that means it is still able to connect to cell towers and you can still triangulate it’s position to some degree.

I’m afraid, you’ll have to cut the phone in half instead. can’t be helped.

Nah. Rip out the antennae assembly. The phone might be a bit complain-y about it (or fail some kind of pre-boot check and not boot)? never done it to find out though.

It’s been a few years since I was inside iPhones regularly but back then… All of them had a physical antenna or two which plugged into a board on a little coax connection.

Unplug those, no reception, phone just assumes it’s in a dead zone.

WiFi would still work if enabled. Which probably means they could find you via WiFi even if switched off in the current world

Cellular typically uses a separate antenna than wifi, on a smartphone i imagine they’re directly on the wireless chip instead of a daughter-board? Laptops and bigger stuff usually routes the antenna wires to the back of the lid, behind the screen, im more used to that