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Apple Moves the iPhone Away From Physical SIMs (arstechnica.com)
The new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max will use eSIM technology to allow users to use two phone lines on a single device. You could have a work or personal number, or an American and Canadian number if you travel across the border frequently. The reprogrammable SIM card is "soldered onto the iPhone's motherboard directly," and measures just 6 millimeters by 5 millimeters," reports Ars Technica, citing GSMArena.com. From the report: These handsets will have a new "dual SIM dual standby" option, one of which will be a nano SIM. In other words, they will have two distinct phone numbers. (Chinese models will have two SIM slots instead of the eSIM option.) Since their debut in 1991, traditional, physical SIM cards have decreased dramatically in size. eSIMs have already been around for nearly a year, since they were introduced into the Apple Watch and Google Pixel 2, among other devices.
Is it serious ? Is it a disposable phone or what ?
How are you going to use SIM card when you travel into a foreign country ?
This is somthing that Apple have been trying to do for a long time : full control of the phone usage.
- No microSD to prevent people from extending their storage. They shall buy a new phone. ( checked)
- No replaceable battery to prevent people to use several ones or replace it when it dies. They shall go to a store and be advised it is better to change phone as well ( checked)
- No headset jack to prevent people from using unothorised headset. They shall buy only headset that are priced as high-end but sound not so. ( checked)
- No sim card to prevent people from changing operator on the go to reduce their cost or enhance third coverage. They will be guided to a better "high end" operator that suits their needs. ( checked)
Great plan, great actions. They must go on as people are sheeps waiting for their master.
Rgs,
TM
The reprogrammable SIM card is "soldered onto the iPhone's motherboard directly
Apple has finally gone the way of their laptops which have everything bolted, soldered, then welded to the motherboard. No replaceable parts. If something breaks, oh well. Another $1,000 down the drain for the phone, or another $3,000 for an underpowered laptop.
Not sure how old this comic is, but it's about as on point as one can get.
Google already uses e-sims for Google Fi service. The Pixel's still have a physical slot for a physical sim though. As long as Apple leaves the option for a physical sim card nothing is really changing.
Unless I misunderstood, it has one traditional SIM like all iphomes always had, you can use that when buying a SIM on holiday for example. The second one is inside the device. Hence I don’t see it as a lock down issue.
Apple has been trying to do this for years. Since the first LTE iPhone in fact.
As it happens, the core specs for GSM/UMTS and LTE actually mandated SIM cards. As did PTCRB and GCF certification, which use the 3GPP specs of course.
So, they all said.. Nope.
Of course, the networks did not support OTA SIM provisioning anyhow.
Most do these days. You find that most of the new M2M products out there use soldered SIM chips.
It's good for providers, but for you, the iPhone user it kind of sucks when you want to buy a used iPhone or sell your. You need to rely on the network provider to provision your SIM based on your IMEI, which.. legally, they are not obligated to do. They can say.. nope... you have to buy a new phone because we don't do that.
I don't care all that much since I don't use an iPhone. I only get a new phone every 2 years when my company gives us new ones, so I cannot sell my phone anyhow.
But.. I guess there are plenty of people out there who change their phones often. This is not good for you.
No, the SIM card "chip" is basically the same as what you have now. It's just soldered to the board. And tiny.
You would not be able to gain access to the SIM Profile without specialized equipment. Like from Comprion. Not sure who supplies Apples chips though.
You can change some things with AT commands, but normally they have SIM Application Tool Kit which live on the SIM card and change things back every time you power up the phone.
No headphone jack, wireless charging/connecting, and eSims means that a portless sealed phone will be possible. Apple will probably have the courage to releae a phone like this, then the others will follow.
I don't really know how SIMs work but is this not a good thing ? Is this not possible to slowly start getting rid of SIMs and only use smartphones' antenna and something like credentials in order to connect to the GSM network ? SIM cards take space and when you change carrier, they need to send you a new SIM, you have to change it, it takes time, etc. Having a soldered SIM that you can reprogram seems to me no different than having a SIMless device that you can connect and disconnect from any communication app, just like you can already do with any smartphone for any app, except this time it is to connect to the GSM network. I'm probably missing something as I'm not really knowledgeable on that matter so enlighten me, please.
Having switched to a dual-SIM Android device a few years ago, I now find it hard to go back to single-SIM. It's incredibly useful when traveling: running your home SIM to receive calls/messages plus a local SIM for cheap data and a local number. But even when home, it's nice to be able to leverage the power of dual-SIM by running a 2nd prepaid SIM from another network for those times when coverage from your main provider is lacking - or if you simply need a 2nd line for work purposes.
Even though I'm no Apple fan, I'm happy to see them finally make this step, and this is a rare instance where I hope other manufacturers do their usual "copy latest iPhone feature" procedure and make dual-SIM functionality a standard feature.
Now if only someone would release a modern dual-SIM phone (with 2nd SIM 3G/LTE) with a sub-5.0" screen size.
www.gaiageek.com
SIM cards die over time. 10+ years, you're lucky it still works. And new cards have extra cuts so you can 'extract' mini, micro, or nano as you need, then push it back into the frame and put into a larger slot. (or even not extract from the whole big credit card sized SIM card and put into an antique phone that accepted these.)
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
There are already lots of phones available with support for dual SIMs and as you might've read the Chinese version had 2 physical sims instead of eSIM+microSIM.
> Please explain how this is restrictive and increases user lock in?
Ever heard of the second hand market?
It's really annoying to transfer a number and I expect it to be just as hard to transfer eSIMs (and if it isn't it probably has some security issue).
Just swapping a sim card like you swap a memory card or battery is really underappreciated until you stand there and don't have a choice.
You could try to have your main phone number on eSIM so that frees the real SIM slot for your abroad number.
it is of course ridiculous that Apple sells the better, dual physical SIM model in China only! That eye openly ugly Apple has become to thread the rest of the world customers like this. So instead of the simplicity of inserting a local SIM we should go thru the pain and discussions and management overhead and DRM of eSIM? Not only does the Chinese model show that Apple can do it, in the Samsung Galaxy they even still fit an SD card, ..! https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
You're blatantly spreading FUD, but I guess I'll bite.
Your unlocked phone is linked to whichever service it's initially activated with. Even an unlocked phone, you can't take out an AT&T card and swap in a Sprint card and just turn it back on and have it work. The activation profile is still AT&T until you do either a phone erase from the settings menu or through iTunes. There are some very specific exceptions, like if you're using an AT&T phone and put in a SIM card that is an MVNO that uses AT&Ts network. Even then, it's a very specific circumstance where you can just turn off the phone and swap cards without doing a restore. You can still restore an iTunes/iCloud backup, but the initial configuration is set when the phone is first set up from the 'Hello' screen.
So no, you could (almost) never just use a paperclip and swap carriers. Just like the Apple Watch, the ESIM has a specific identifier that you just tell the new carrier what it is and they register it to their network. You can twist yourself in knots all you want about "I don't know where to get that number from because I'm scared to tap on the info button" but it saves you a trip to your new cell carriers physical store and you can just call them from another phone and tell them the number (or still go to the actual store if you don't have another phone).
As for your pricing, $2600 CAD is currently $2000 USD. You've taken literally the most expensive model, maxed out the storage, put not only AppleCare+, but also the additional loss/theft coverage on it, and STILL have extra money that I'm not sure where you came up with. Are you also adding in the cost of a case plus Airpods? Again, FUD.
Please make up more fake examples in your mind why the new phone that you haven't touched or even seen in person yet is literally Hitler in phone form.
"Well kids, you tried your best, and you failed. The lesson is, never try." -Homer Simpson
I've had enough of the obvious greed that underlies Apple's removal of the headphone jack, deletion of the MagSafe connector, and other similar
moves.
I used to be an Apple evangelist. Now I despise Apple.
I think smart people are going to move away from Apple. Apple is simply doing too many things that are grossly insulting to intelligent users.
Perhaps Jobs planned it this way. Appointing a person with no design sense as CEO could have been part of his strategy to show the world that Apple could not succeed without him.
>Your unlocked phone is linked to whichever service it's initially activated with.
huh what ? Can't you buy a phone from an electronics store without any sim inside it in the US ?
Your unlocked phone is linked to whichever service it's initially activated with. Even an unlocked phone, you can't take out an AT&T card and swap in a Sprint card and just turn it back on and have it work.
Does unlocked mean something different over there? Because that's exactly what unlocked means, at least here in the uk, unless this is a thing specific to iphones which really wouldn't surprise me.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Did you even read the fucking article?
OK, so, here it is - now PAY ATTENTION!
a). Two SIMs.
b). ONE SIM is built into the one.
c). ONE SIM is a standard nano SIM that is easily replaceable.
Got that?
Just to be clear - YES, you can replace your SIM when you are overseas.
Even an unlocked phone, you can't take out an AT&T card and swap in a Sprint card and just turn it back on and have it work. The activation profile is still AT&T until you do either a phone erase from the settings menu or through iTunes.
Uh, yes you can. I've done it.
1). Buy SIM-free phone from Apple
2). Put my existing Verizon SIM card in it.
3). Works great.
4). Remove Verizon SIM card.
5). Install AT&T SIM card.
6). Works great.
This doesn't add up. I bought a phone from AT&T and once it was paid for, I went to AT&T and they walked me through the unlocking process.
I planned a trip to the UK and a friend mailed me an activated prepaid Asda SIM. When the pilot announced we were landing in 30 minutes, I ejected my AT&T SIM and inserted the Asda SIM.
Once we landed, I immediately had voice and data service on Asda's network.
The only carrier involvement was the unlocking process.
My most recent iPhone I bought unlocked from Apple directly. I don't even think I went to AT&T, I just moved my SIM to the new phone and it worked.
I think the parent poster's concern is legitimate -- this is easy and only involves a tiny card now. eSIM switching sounds way more complicated. I can't just pop into a shop and buy a prepaid SIM when I land unless there's some method of reprogramming my SIM on the phone with some code from a package and both the phone and the local network are smart enough to do this over the air without costing me a million dollars in roaming fees, finding a landline, using a laptop, etc.
My experience with carriers makes me believe they will do everything in their power to make this complicated and diffcult.
Wrong.
These handsets will have a new "dual SIM dual standby" option, one of which will be a nano SIM.
Right there in the summary. If you want a physical SIM, use the slot. Work it out with your carrier.
Please read.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
If your iPhone is carrier unlocked, you just eject the SIM and put in a new one. It sees that it was ejected and gives you a message saying there is no SIM present, and then when it sees the new one it attempts to activate.
Just like literally any other GSM phone ever. And this functionality has been in every single iPhone going back to the original HSPA+ 4GB model.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Same here. I used my unlocked iPhone SE on T-Mobile for 18 months, then joined my gf's Verizon plan. All that was needed was a Sim pop. Not even a reboot. I'll say that for visual voicemail to work again, Verizon had do something. Didn't need to hook it up to a PC , though.
A sentence you'll never see on an Internet discussion board: "You know what? You're right."
Why? I don't ask that in a condescending manner, I genuinely want to know.
So that I can have my work # and data plan in the same phone as my personal # and data plan, instead of carrying around two phones.
Yes - you can play games with forwarding and Google voice and whatever else - not nearly the same.
" Even an unlocked phone, you can't take out an AT&T card and swap in a Sprint card and just turn it back on and have it work"
Wrong. I'll assume you're not deliberately lying.
When my M8 finally started failing I got an Amazon BLU R1HD, and it was adequate. It was unlocked.
I dropped my T-Mobile SIM in it, no problems. Later, I got a FreedomPOP SIM for my daughter, and worked with it for a week to understand what it would do. I dropped it into the BLU, it worked, NO PROBLEM.
How do you suppose people, as they discuss earlier in this thread, swap out their US SIM for a 'foreign SIM' when travelling, if their unlocked phone was still locked to the carrier?
You, my friend, have conflated locked/unlocked with carrier compatibility. Unless it's LTE, or includes an essentially universal radio, a Sprint phone is physically incompatible with AT&T and AT&T phones similarly. Until LTE permitted a more or less universally compatible voice/data networking scheme, AT&T, using GSM, was incompatible with Sprint, using any of the various flavors of CDMA. Verizon v. AT&T also, and T-Mobile using GSM similarly compatible with AT&T but not Verizon/Sprint, though AT&T and TMO both played games with software to annoy customers back when carriers thought phone lock-in was a thing, though back then 'unlocked' was a fever dream travelling subscribers suffered from in their first-class seats. This all goes back to the old wireline v. non-wireline, or Cell A v. Cell B of NAMPS and then TDMA/CDMA. For a little while I had a Siemens S46 demon phone from hell, that tried to straddle TDMA and GSM, with marginal success. LTE today can permit phones to work on any network, but only in LTE modes, if it's all correct.
It wasn't the lock/unlock status that prevented you from using an AT&T phone on Sprint's network, it was the actual network. And ti need nto happend with a recently manufactured phone.
We'll leave the whole Sprint/Motorola/Nextel/iDEN fiasco on the floor where it belongs.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Meanwhile other manufacturers solve that problem by providing 2 SIM slots.