In 2016, the GSMA released eSIM, a “virtual” SIM format that makes it possible to completely abandon the small physical card. Manufacturers are slowly starting to take advantage of it on some devices and the offer even penetrated AppleThe first to use this technology in 2018.

Now the Cupertino company, according to Bloomberg Thinking of saying goodbye to the SIM slot traditional and focuses specifically on eSIM. The change is significant for Apple and the industry, but it faces a few major hurdles.

Apple’s pulse doesn’t tremble in these goodbyes

Mark Gurman, who is known for being right in his predictions about the direction of Apple products and services, recently commented on how the company will follow. Debating whether to remove it from the physical SIM slot.

“Apple will give eSIM a bigger boost this time, operators are preparing to push users,” this analyst said in the ‘Power On’ newsletter. towards embedded and digital eSIM cards instead of physical cards

“Actually,” he said, “Apple, remove physical slot “For next SIM card from this year or some models.” For example, iPhone 13 supports multiple eSIM profiles that you can switch between later, which is useful for frequent travelers.

This possibility has been talked about for a long time, and of course Apple has not been afraid of such a change in the past. They got rid of the floppy drive and later the optical drive on their Mac without tremblingand they did the same with the controversial removal of the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 in 2016.

Removing this physical slot is Apple’s Increase iPhone’s water resistance even more and even free up some space on the device, for example to install a larger battery.

The company likes these types of changes – this is also simplify production and avoid vendor dependencies and internals – and that possibility certainly seems possible. Yet here the option seems difficult to eliminate so easily.

The rumors these days are actually linked to a real data: the iOS 16 option that lets you transfer the data of an eSIM from one iPhone to another via Bluetooth. An Important Tip As for what the future could be without a SIM slot, of course.

Technology is ready, but not everyone is using it

The idea of ​​being able to forgo a physical SIM card is certainly interesting, but the reality six years after its introduction is that eSIM technology exists in mobile devices. limited.

This is evidenced by the case of eSIM in Spain. support mature among the most important operators, but not so much among low-cost alternatives. However, few models and manufacturers benefit from eSIM.

Apple and Google heroes here, Samsung, Motorola and even Huawei also benefit from it in some models. The presence of Chinese manufacturers is anecdotal – OPPO is one of the accepted among the carriers – and also wearables are not often mentioned.

It seems difficult for them to do this. Firstly, because the eSIM service offered by operators, for example, in Spain, has not been promoted much, and even upgraded it more relevantly. for wearable devices (Apple Clock) or for tablets It’s like iPad and not so much for cell phones.

Second and more importantly, because as we said, there are many manufacturers that do not even offer eSIM technology in their terminals. Most Chinese manufacturers have ignored this until now. and they usually contain Dual SIM trays where one of the card slots also acts as a storage card.

the truth is rumor consistent with previous Apple decisions But the current adoption and implementation of eSIM technology seems to be working against such a strategy.

Image | Brett Jordan