Apple Moves the iPhone Away From Physical SIMs (arstechnica.com) 204
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.
Disposable phone ? (Score:2, Insightful)
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 heads
Re:Disposable phone ? (Score:5, Interesting)
It is done via OTA SIM provisioning.
I think that is handled under 3GPP 31.124, but could be 121.
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It is done via OTA SIM provisioning.
And in the process de-provision the old one. There's something to be said for a removable SIM for people who would like to quickly change services.
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So do it. Use the eSIM for your home network that you are most of the time, and leave the SIM tray empty for the times you travel.
Problem solved. This is for 99% of people who only need a second SIM when they travel - their home carrier will be provisioned onto the eSIM because most people don't change carriers daily. When they travel, they pop in the new local SIM into the SIM tray and use that. When they
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Travellers.
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True Apple people have no need to travel. The world will come to them.
On a more serious note, I think those folks who claim elsewhere in these comments that you can't just plug a different SIM into one of these dual SIM Apple phones and go on your merry way are almost certainly wrong. Apple makes what seem to me really odd assumptions about what users want/need and I have always found their products to be overpriced and often pretty much unusable. But I doubt that their worldview is so peculiar that the
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The dual SIM specifically only has one e-SIM you're right those users are wrong.
I'm talking about the e-SIM concept in general.
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Good thing there's still a nano-SIM slot on the phone for when you are in ${random shop} in Vietnam or Thailand, right?
Read the god damn summary. It says it right there.
These handsets will have a new "dual SIM dual standby" option, one of which will be a nano SIM.
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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 ?
Have the secondary built in SIM chip programmed at the shop when you get your foreign data plan like they already do with the plastic SIM chips you stick in your phone? SIM chips are not particularly sophisticated pieces of technology. The Phone company will probably just send you an SMS with the chip settings which you then accept manually and the phone operating system handles the rest.
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All great, but expect a new frontier of fake SIM swap messages to hit your phone pretty soon. You and I might be smart enough not to accept, but you can bet there's a whole raft of people who aren't.
In the Beginning, Man created the phone. European Man insisted on a sim card, whereas American man did not. American man's phones were crap, and his networks were worse. European man's phones were better, networks were better and lo, American man saw the error of his ways and started using sim cards.
Now we're go
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Except that the SIM still exists, and you can even plug one into these phones:
These handsets will have a new "dual SIM dual standby" option, one of which will be a nano SIM.
This whole "OMG I can't use it outside my country" thing is FUD. it still has a damn nano-SIM slot on it.
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you get presented with a list of possible Apple-approved carriers you can register for service
FTFY.
Re:Disposable phone ? - No. (Score:2)
It's a very misleading, click-baity headline.
The phone still has a physical nano-SIM, so that if you travel you can purchase and use a SIM card.
The eSIM is what enables the second phone number.
The bolting will continue until morale improves (Score:3)
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 [imgur.com], but it's about as on point as one can get.
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That Windows Logo is from the 95/98 era, and that Apple car looks like the original iMac from 98, so that comic is probably 15 to 20 years old. Amazing how well the comic holds up after all those years, and also amazing that people still buy in to the Apple philosophy.
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The Apple side has held up over the years, not so sure about the Windows side of that cartoon.
Google Fi (Score:3)
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Which they did.
But this is Apple so everyone has to get their bitch on, even if their chosen tribe has already done the exact same thing.
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One SIM is still traditional (Score:5, Informative)
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You are correct. It has both a physical nano-SIM that can be swapped in and out, and the embedded eSIM.
The headline is misleading.
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Re: One SIM is still traditional (Score:3)
Pushing this for years (Score:3)
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.
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Nothing has changed at all regarding cell phone unlocking with the swap to ESIMs. Spri
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Not every location that sells sim cards is going to have the ability to use ESIMS. With a regular SIM you can go down to the corner shop and pick up a SIM card. Put it in the phone, and Bob's your uncle. Now you have to find a place that will have the capability of dealing with the ESIM. This was probably done to make it required that you go to the large carrier shops rather than support smaller data providers that often have much better rates.
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Unlock, yes. But is your provider legally required to provision the eSIM phone of your choice?
Soon we will have completely sealed phones (Score:5, Insightful)
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And devoid of user serviceable components. ... But available in any of seven designer colors.
Is this not a good thing ? (Score:2)
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I believe the idea of a SIM card (Subscriber identification Module) was to enable consumers to easily switch from one mobile handset to another without involving the carrier. Buy a new handset, move your SIM to the new handset, and start using it. All handsets supported the exact same SIM interface, so SIMs worked with all handsets for any vendor. Simple, easy, and you didn't have to deal with the whole "if you want to use a phone on my network you have to buy a phone from me" deal that carriers were pus
Dual-SIM is awesome (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
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Now if only someone would release a modern dual-SIM phone (with 2nd SIM 3G/LTE) with a sub-5.0" screen size.
Large size only bothers me when it's in my pocket. Once I whip it out, it can be as big as it wants to be.
This is where the Samsung foldable phone comes in. I just pray it doesn't try to unfold while in my pocket...
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Dude, some Android phones have had dual SIM for years.
FTFY. What the OP is referring to is the tendency for someone to create something, and then for Apple to do it and make it popular, causing a majority of Android devices to do it.
This has been going on since the iPhone started. My Windows phone could do WAY more than the first iPhone back when they started, and the iPhone still has not matched all the features that phone had, but my phone wasn't common.
Now, Windows phones are all but extinct.
Just because a handful of Android phones have something doesn't me
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What the OP is referring to is the tendency for someone to create something, and then for Apple to do it and make it popular, causing a majority of Android devices to do it.
Thank you. This is exactly what I meant. I know that dual-SIM Android phones have been around for years (I did mention that I own one). If you look at what's available though, they tend to either be super low-spec (e.g. 1GB RAM) phones designed for low income buyers in developing countries, or flagship devices which tend to have larger screens and higher prices - and even these can be hard to find in the US in dual-SIM varieties, and if you can find them they often don't come with a warranty, which I consi
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Now if only someone would release a modern dual-SIM phone (with 2nd SIM 3G/LTE) with a sub-5.0" screen size.
Moto E4 has an exactly 5" screen, is that close enough for you? Supports basically all frequencies currently in use. The only problem is that the second sim slot is also the memory card slot.
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I've had my eye on the Nokia 3.1 (the North American version), and so far it's the closest I've find to what I'm looking for: dual-SIM with 3G/LTE support on the 2nd SIM, full 3G (all 5 bands) and very adequate international LTE band support, dedicated microSD slot (many dual-SIM devices use a hybrid slot allowing a microSD card *or* a 2nd SIM card), very decent overall specs.
I just wish it was 1. smal
Chinese 2x SIM model (Score:3)
Apple will never get another dollar from me. (Score:2, Insightful)
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 w
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Why two SIM cards? (Score:2)
Got this on my iPad (Score:2)
Seems a bad idea. I'm on EE (UK) and my choice is either EE or EE.. it can't be unlocked.
Also if not topped up for a 6 month period they deactivate the internal eSIM - permanently. I was very lucky in that I caught it in a limbo state (lasts about a week) so they could reactivate mine. I now have a reminder set to put £1 on it every 5 months.
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So it has a permanent hard-coded sim (Score:2)
Apple's newest idea... (Score:2)
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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.
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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> Now what am I supposed to do?
Buy a different phone, that's what!
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You could try to have your main phone number on eSIM so that frees the real SIM slot for your abroad number.
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Or you could get a 'phone with two sim slots, just like all those Android phones have had for years.
Nope. This is just a way to avoid you from selling your old phone.
(Oh, you thought the procedure for changing it was going to be easy?)
I'm sure they'll sell it as an "anti theft" feature though - Thieves won't be able to remove your SIM card(!)
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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
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:5, Informative)
huh what ? Can't you buy a phone from an electronics store without any sim inside it in the US ?
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Yes, the difference being that many people go buy them from ATT/Verizon/whatever stores, and end up with locked phones. Totally unrelated to all of this, and not exclusive to Apple. As long as people continue to buy phones this way, the practice will continue. Rarely though will you see a premium smart phone, from any vendor, ACTUALLY discounted for the contract duration, unless there are huge problems with the phone, or it's nearing the normal upgrade cycle from that phone vendor.
Mostly he's full of shit I
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All verizon iphones are unlocked by default.
Are you sure?
Verizon is Locking Its Phones Down To Combat Theft [slashdot.org]
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Can't you buy a phone from an electronics store without any sim inside it in the US ?
The US mobile phone business works very differently from that of other countries for a variety of reasons, some of which are actually kind of stupid. But your question is very specific and I'll instead deal with the question of "Can't you buy an unlocked phone from an electronics store in the US?" which would cover phones that may or may not have SIMs in them but are definitely unlocked, which is what you are really asking about. It is possible to do so, but such phones are hard to buy and will contain no
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Even if you do do this, you can't easily get a new standalone SIM card for a few bucks in the US. You can buy a cheap shitty prepaid phone, and charge it with minutes, but you can't readily just get the SIM. I actually have an old Android phone picked up on my last trip to the UK (some stupid promo that came with 30 days unlimited data that was cheaper) that I was looking to re-sim back in the 'States and gave up.
Some pedant will point out that there are places where you can and I'm sure that's true, but
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Even if you do do this, you can't easily get a new standalone SIM card for a few bucks in the US.
Interesting. Here in the UK, I can get a £0.99 Sim card in the supermarket.
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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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.
The issue is CDMA. That protocol doesn't use SIM cards. An unlocked CDMA iPhone can be moved to any GSM-based carrier, but can't be moved to a different CDMA-based carrier than the one it was originally activated on. And if you originally activate it on a non-CDMA carrier, the carriers generally won't let you activate it on their service even if it is capable of being activated for CDMA. (This is a cellular provider policy limitation, not a technical one.)
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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.
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re: And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:2)
The one blatantly spreading FUD is you. You are describing a locked US handset. Unlocked means exactly that, you take any SIM in and out at will and it just works. Disclaimer: I work for a Nordic provider.
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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.
That sounds pretty weird . Is this Apple problem or American problem?
Because I definitely can throw a random SIM into my sony handset and it just works - Orange, Virgin, anything else, does not matter. That's the whole point of having SIM as a separate, removable component.
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Here in Canada, it was ruled that phones have to be unlocked or easy to unlock (as well as the phone payments being a separate line on the bill). So phones were delivered unlocked.
Now they're going back to locking them due to claims of theft, as in theft of pallets of phones on the way to the store. You can still phone up and get the unlocking code.
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:4, Interesting)
" 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.
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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.
1 week after getting my iPhone 6s, I was able to swap out the Verizon SIM card with an AT&T one and it just worked. A few months later I was able to swap out that AT&T SIM and put in a T-Mobile SIM and it just worked.
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It's about $1400 for all that, plus $600 in dongles so it can actually be used.
Don't forget applecare.
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Other than not having physical space used for two SIM card trays, contacts, mechanical retainer clips, waterproofing seals, etc., which can be used for other things?
Sounds like good reasoning to me, especially since there is still a SIM tray available.
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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LOL did you just really ask if the AC spewing FUD read the article before posting lies?
It says it right there in the damn summary that there's still a nano-SIM tray. But this is an article about a new feature of a new Apple product, so the only things you're going to read are about how they either copied someone else, or kneejerk chicken-little horseshit that is at best partially correct, but usually completely wrong.
This is what Slashdot does now. To be fair, even 10 years ago nobody actually read the ar
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Yeah, I know. I was just burning off some steam (:
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There is still a SIM tray.
What you are supposed to do, is pop that out and put in your nano-sim just like you always did.
It even says it right there in the god damn summary:
These handsets will have a new "dual SIM dual standby" option, one of which will be a nano SIM.
Can you spend 10 seconds to read before firing off some angry tirade that is completely wrong, please?
Re: And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:2)
Maybe before you rant you should actually make an effort to understand what an esim actually is?
You setup the esim on your phone. The
setup can be done manually or through a QR code. No server activation or laptop is needed. You donâ(TM)t even need a paper clip.
Re: And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:2)
Tim Cook stated you change it with a QR code. Maybe swapping back and forth is possible...
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This is a feature I was specifically looking for and may encourage me to upgrade from my 6s+, when I otherwise would not.
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:And what if I need to change my number abroad? (Score:5, Insightful)
Meanwhile other manufacturers solve that problem by providing 2 SIM slots.
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Meanwhile other manufacturers solve that problem by providing 2 SIM slots.
I don't care how a solution is implemented, provided it meets my requirements.
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I do. not. care. how much money Google makes from Android, so long as it powers useful phones that I want and can benefit from. Of all the straw man arguments, profit from the sale of stuff you want is both classic and exceptionally dumb.
It's alright to be part of someone else's dream.
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Apple are always on the lookout for ways to lock in their customers, and here's a new one.
Please explain how this is restrictive and increases user lock in? All they are doing is moving the damn SIM chips out of the plastic chips and putting them on the motherboard. With a nano SIM I can get private unlimited mobile data plan that I pay for myself. I'll be able to route all my private data consumption over that number, relegate the company number my boss insists that I have to be used for phone calls only and no longer have to worry about getting chewed out for blowing the data cap on the cheap
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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 unti
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Yeah I know I use a 2 year old Android phone with dual sim.
The Chinese version will be the one to get then by the sounds of it. The others will be locked, you want to change your sim, you will need to use an app that registers it with Cupertino. Sure vendors will have this option, but the days where you can go with any vendor you choose, well that will depend on how friendly they are with Apple HQ.
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You don't know how "SIMs" work. Really?
Right now, I can easily take the SIM out of one phone, plug it into another, and I'm using a different phone. I can switch between iOS and Android or even a feature phone, or between phones from different manufacturers. If traveling, I can buy a prepaid SIM locally and use that in my phone to avoid roaming costs. No need to get the carrier or anyone else involved, and I can do it as often as I want.
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You update the info that traditionally goes onto a SIM into the eSIM, same way you update credentials into any other authentication system.
Put another way, a SIM is like 'buy a CD-ROM, put it in your computer, every time you wnat to use that app' and an eSIM is like 'download directly to your hard drive, run whenever, switch to a different version whenever.'
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You don't update SIMs, you get a new one if changing carriers. eSIMs let you sign up for service from carriers who support them. What about MVNOs? How do you switch back and forth to a phone which uses a standard SIM?
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Re: Just another way for Apple to lock people in (Score:2)
2. The eSIM is reprogrammable and Apple has already given instructions on how to do it.
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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.)
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Yet another way to control what you do with your phone. EVERY phone should have a sim slot that can be populated with whatever sim card you want.
You mean like the new phones Apple just announced?
"These handsets will have a new "dual SIM dual standby" option, one of which will be a nano SIM."
How is that unclear??
All you people complaining about not being able to replace a SIM card are...well, morons may be a little rough, but that's the first word that comes to mind. But let's go with "uninformed".