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Apple May Include Support For a Second SIM Card in New iPhones (engadget.com)
Could Apple be planning on support for dual SIM cards with the new iPhone? It's possible. From a report: 9to5Mac was taking iOS 12 developer beta 5 out for a test drive and noticed something interesting in diagnostic report generation. There are clearly references to a "second SIM status." iPhones currently support eSIMs along with normal SIMs, so this could be nothing. But the diagnostic report also references "second SIM tray status," which signals that Apple could be planning on including support for a second physical SIM card with new iPhones.
Expensive phones don't have dual SIMs because people who travel and need dual SIMs just buy a secondary phone.
Traveling internationally, isn't it better to just use a burner anyway?
Not sure of the target demo...
Endless stories about Apple supporting features everyone else has offered for years....are Apple customers ever pleasantly surprised?
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
Apple just invented dual sim, how courageous.
If there is no physically card, the number of eSIMs supported should be practically unlimited, right? Why bother with adding a physical card if you can trivially add more eSIMs?
The ability to switch between phone networks on the fly is quite handy. Google Fi has done this for years....
Most iPhone users are into dual penetration, why not dual sims?
Yeah now we'll get to hear one day how he stuck his Sim in the wrong phone.
It would be cool if you could set it up to be in "work mode" and "personal mode," so when you are at work it shows all your work apps and mail by default, and when you aren't at work (geofenced or time based) it shows your personal stuff by default. Of course you could switch back and forth, but it would be neat if you call during work hours it uses your work SIM by default, shows your work mail by default, etc...
apple would much rather sell you two overpriced phones instead of just one. This doesn't fit with their corporate philosophy.
No, it's courage.
They have removed the lightning port, microphone, and speakers.
...supports a feature, they are always the first to do it right.
Yes, it is dumb.
Dumb that it can actually be cheaper to have two lines on your account (one talk-and-text-only line and one data-only line) vs a single talk-text-data line that is.
one for PRISM?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
What I'd want to see:
* For sale at stores in North America
* Works on all carriers.
* Optional isolation between the two SIM cards.
What it will probably be:
* For "emerging markets" only. (You can import it, though.)
* GSM Only.
* Paid app for isolation. (Available six months after release, integrated in the next major version of iOS.)
Part of me hopes that Apple does their usual "take something that exists and up the game," but if I keep expectations low I won't be disappointed when it's the same as every other Android dual SIM phone in existence.
"... international roaming..."
Roaming is expensive.
Many Blu phones have dual SIMs and cost less than $100. Quoting: Dual SIM:
A Dual SIM gives you several advantages... If you have two SIM slots in your mobile device, you don't need to worry about these issues: (The writing on the Blu web site is poor. I improved it.)
1) Exchanging SIM cards from one phone to another.
2) Carrying two phones in your pocket.
3) Remembering to charge two devices.
4) You can take advantage of different voice/data plans for better rates, better coverage, and separate bills.
5) You can separate personal and business phone calls.
6) For the international traveler, a Dual SIM phone can avoid roaming charges by having a domestic carrier SIM and an international carrier SIM.
A little perspective from a Chinese (born& raise in China):
Pretty much everyone I know in china has 2 or more phone numbers, because of the gross abuse of private information. You get SO MANY spamming calls for all sorts of ads and scammers if you expose your phone numbers to too many places (regardless of legitimacy â" it could be a local gym, or registering an account with multi-billion dollar valuation startups)
One number for registering all sorts of services, like food delivery, ecommerce, gym membership etc.
the other âoemain numberâ for keeping in touch with close family, friends and sensitive services like banking etc.
Smart move (and much anticipated), since many Chinese people I know who switched from iPhones to Huawei/ Samsung etc did it mostly because they can have 2 numbers in one phone ( no need to carry a second phone)
Crazy, I know (i also have 2 Chinese phone numbers)
I would be pretty surprised if Apple offered a 2nd SIM via an actual SIM tray. Likely the tray will still be one SIM, whilst the 2nd SIM will be an embedded SIM with OTA provisioning.
Apple has pushing PTCRB to accept embedded SIMs only for years and they were heavily involved in the steering groups and standards committees for embedded SIMs. I doubt they did that just for fun.
ATT used to change $15-$20 a meg for roaming just think if the iphone was still att only.
Battery life Is the only reason i am skeptical.
Since they apparently have room to spare, I'd much rather have a MicroSD slot than a second SIM slot.
*Yawn. Impress me with a mem card slot instead.
None of those are compelling for me, even as someone who carries a second phone for work (because I don't want my employer to be allowed to wipe my device, not because separating work calls matters).
The thing is, ten years ago, I would have jumped on the opportunity to have a second SIM card in my iPhone. I had an international SIM that saved a lot of money when making phone calls and using data overseas. These days, my main Sprint plan is cheaper in Europe than that European SIM card. It seems unlikely that I'll ever bother swapping SIM cards again, even though I bought my phone fully unlocked so I could if I needed to.
The only way I would be interested in a second SIM card on iOS would be if Apple coupled it with proper Google Project Fi support. The one thing I've noticed since I started carrying a second phone is that my Google Pixel has much more consistent cellular data service than my iPhone, because it uses Project Fi, which lets it transparently roam across multiple carriers (Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular) based on who has the strongest signal, rather than strongly favoring a single carrier's tower even when it has only a single bar (which, for data purposes, is effectively "No Service"). Weak spots in one carrier's service tend not to be weak on the others, so it gives me a much better, more consistent user experience. And that's not just out in the boonies, either. I get better and more consistent service in Cupertino with my Pixel than with my iPhone.
If I could get that sort of seamless networking experience on iOS, it might be worth sticking a Project Fi sim in the second SIM slot. But as long as Apple doesn't support Project Fi and won't create their own equivalent, I'd much rather have a headphone jack than a second SIM slot. At least that's something that I and a significant percentage of other iPhone users would actually use.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
But still no room for an SD card? Hmm...
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
I get some people don't care for 2 SIM cards.
I'm one of them, I know what I'd prefer.
Idiots.
Very unlikely that Apple would want to include something useful like dual sim in ANY iPhone... I mean... that goes against their whole mantra of being as user hostile as possible while laughing and launghing and laughing at anyone that is stupid enough to actually BUY and keep buying their products with decreasing hardware quality and decreasing software quality at truly increasingly insane prices and restrictions, let alone preach about the virtues of Apple products afterwards!
While I'm European and receive no spam beside the rare SMS, I will consider doing the same. This would cost me a few euros monthly but I've seen how online
services etc. want to have your phone number. I refuse to hand it over if that's an option (if it is not, I'd rather not have an account at all)
The other day I had to buy a phone on a website, pay with the debit card and forgot that the payment system now sends a confirmation SMS. Which I couldn't receive, since I was buying a phone for the reason I couldn't use the older one. It made me feel like a dinosaur. I probably forgot to check what year we're in. I remember having Internet access, while not owning a cell phone, and buying stuff on the Internet.
We don't have talk of 2G shutdowns yet and still can buy 2G phones. Might go on till about 2025.