Electronic SIM [ e-SIM ]

There is NO SIM-Card slot.... Have You registered for an e-SIM account? Ok, wait! What?

With the advancement of technology, everything is getting smaller and powerful. There are some sure changes that the future of smart-phones will opt for SIM cards; yes the electronic SIM cards which will effectively remove the want of having a physical SIM card as well as a SIM slot in your smart-phone. Today’s mobile phones are getting slimmer and concise with more additional features. With the introduction of a new type of SIM, phones’ internal structure will move entirely in a fresh new layout which you can guess reading the above lines of this article. Also, the consumers of Apple and Samsung may witness the very first devices trenching and replacing traditional SIM cards with e-SIM cards in the coming year.

So, what this e-SIM all about? An e-SIM is basically an electronic SIM-card that will remain fitted in the phone as a built-in device. As you can guess from the name, it will swap the physical, plastic-made SIM cards that traditional users are using in smart-phones with an implicit & embedded counterpart and it can’t be removed. These fixed & implanted SIM card will hold no substantial plastics SIMs residing within your phone. E-SIM is designed in such a way that they are easily supported by your network or carrier that can be enabled without going to shops and register manually from career vendors and shops. The registration and identity check will all be done online.

Similar to that, an embedded SIM called the iSIM, was recently declared by ARM which is primarily tied to a little Internet of Things (IoT) sensor which is not relevant and user-friendly. The e-SIM inside Apple’s coming handsets is because of the second SIM card support because iPhones already provide a physical SIM card slot for traditional SIM. E-SIMs are essentially an undersized chipset embedded within your phone which will work in a comparable manner as the NFC chip; which is used in payment tech such as Apple Pay & Google Pay.

The program for supporting the SIM card in an e-SIM is a rewritable one which means there is an option to make up your mind whether to change the operator by just a simple phone call. It will also become truly simple for adding a data plan – connecting devices through e-SIMs to a mobile account can be prepared in minutes. E-SIMs are sponsored by the association organization of mobile networks i.e. GSMA. They will characterize the benchmark for e-SIM worldwide.

e-SIM is great for regular travelers

Tentatively, e-SIM users can go to different countries and just by adding a roaming e-SIM registering your handset as retaining access for your main "home" number. This is one of the drawbacks at present traditional e-SIM users are facing because when you change SIMs abroad you cannot access your own number and have to go with a new one.

There is also estimated forecasting that “e-SIMs will also potentially remove roaming charges when you are abroad”, according to Truphone's Steve Alder. This e-SIM will also enable its phone users to switch between signals and network operators when there will be no signal in any particular area. Also, these e-SIMs can free up space for additional features or added battery life which could minimize the threat of device theft. As smart-phone customers, as well as operators, will start to witness the benefits of such tiny technology, huge adoption of e-SIMs will be predictable.

How will eSIM work in practice?

Let us take an example to demonstrate this. When you have a physical as well as an e-SIM running in parallel & is linked to 2 different networks, your smart-phone will show both the networks on your phone screen at a time. In case the smart-phone is in stand-by mode, for both the SIM & eSIM – customers are capable of receiving calls as well as texts on both the numbers. Also, there will be default options to make one of the SIM as a primary one which will use iMessage & SMS or FaceTime use. While the other one can be used for SMS and voice-calling in parallel. On the other hand, you can opt to employ the secondary SIM for cellular data. There is an option that the upcoming iPhone will have is that users can register and store more than 1 e-SIM in their iPhone but use any one of them at a time. This is also an added advantage of e-SIM. In this way, it can be said that the next generation of smart-phones will come with these built-in SIM card technology.

Are you planning to switch to this new technological strand? How it can pose a critical threat to the nex-gen? You can comment or inbox me in person.