The US iPhones have not had SIM slots since the iPhone 14. The iPhone 17 did not change this. What did change with the 17 was the lack of SIM slot was expanded to many more countries, such as Canada. But the US models dropped the SIM slot many years ago, not with the 17.
A fresh leak has claimed that the upcoming iPhone 18 family will drop physical SIM support altogether, opting for dual eSIMs globally. This will free up some much-needed internal space, allowing for larger batteries across the lineup.