Any trend of technological development will never be stagnant because of the interests of some groups.
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Author | Xiao Man
Edit | Li Shuaifei
If iSIM technology can be applied to smartphones, will the SIM card be far from being out?
Recently, Qualcomm announced that it has partnered with Vodafone and Thales to incorporate the sim card's capabilities into the device's main processor and demonstrate smartphones with new iSIM technologies.
Notably, this is the first time in the world that iSIM technology has been demonstrated on a smartphone.
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iSIM technology was first used on mobile phones
Leifeng network learned that Qualcomm used the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G when conducting the technology demonstration this time, equipped with Snapdragon 888 5G chip. Qualcomm said the commercialization of the technology could be rolled out among many new devices that use iSIM to connect to mobile services.
Foreign media reports pointed out that the three companies are developing new iSIM standards on the basis of eSIM. iSIM is the primary chipset that integrates SIM technology directly into the device, and its key feature is to eliminate the physical space requirements of the SIM card while combining the benefits of eSIM, including remote SIM configuration for operators, stronger security, and more.
In Qualcomm's view, iSIM technology has many application advantages, including:
Free up space inside the device to simplify and enhance device design and performance;
Ability to integrate SIM functionality with a variety of key functions such as GPUs, CPUs, and modems into the device's main chipset;
Allows operators to leverage existing eSIM infrastructure for remote SIM configuration;
Add mobility service connectivity to a large number of devices that previously did not have built-in SIM capabilities;
Ability to integrate mobile services into devices other than mobile phones, including AR\VR, tablets, wearables, and more.
Leifeng network learned that as early as three years ago, MWC19 Shanghai exhibition, Qualcomm had demonstrated iSIM technology demonstration, when the exhibition demonstrated that qualcomm Snapdragon mobile platform can directly "simulate" the unique encryption, authentication and storage functions of SIM cards with integrated security modules, which is a pure software solution.
Compared to the integration demonstration of the software and hardware solution directly on the mobile phone, this means that Qualcomm iSIM technology has availability.
In fact, Qualcomm is not the first to propose the idea of implementing iSIM - as early as 2018, ARM disclosed its iSIM technology, which enables electronic devices such as mobile phones to communicate with operators by integrating SIM cards into ARM-based SoCs.
Arm's iSIM technology includes a Kigen OS system and a secure and encrypted standalone hardware block, which also integrates the application processor, baseband chip and SIM card in the mobile phone into a single chip.
It is not difficult to see from the active initiatives of major chip manufacturers in iSIM technology that iSIM is a technology that conforms to future development trends, and has the potential to replace physical SIM cards and eSIM.
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The game between chip manufacturers and operators
For most users, most of their electronic devices are still physical SIM cards. As feature phones evolved to smartphones, SIM cards also changed from ordinary SIM cards to Nano SIM cards, becoming smaller and smaller (from 25mm x 15 mm x 0.8 mm to 12.3mm x 8.8mm x 0.7mm).
But even so, Nano SIM cards still occupy a lot of space in electronic devices, and in smart wearable devices such as watches and glasses, physical SIM cards are more "Big Mac"-like existence.
In response to this embarrassing dilemma, in early 2016, the GSM Association released a programmable SIM card, the eSIM card, which is mainly aimed at wearable devices, the Internet of Things, and flat light devices.
From the perspective of the industrial environment at that time, the launch of eSIM was actually a new form spawned by the needs of industrial development - providing basic connectivity for the advent of the era of Internet of Everything.
Relevant data show that by 2025, the number of IoT connections will reach 10 billion, based on the cellular IoT management brought about by sim demand will reach more than 30 billion, and eSIM will occupy the vast majority of the IoT SIM market.
Unlike physical SIM cards, eSIM can be directly integrated into the device, eliminating the need for reserved card slots for terminal devices and eliminating the hidden worries of poor contact and easy loss and damage. Not only that, the number corresponding to the eSIM can be downloaded remotely, the operator can be switched at will, and the security risk of SIM card being copied is reduced.
To some extent, eSIM and iSIM share similar characteristics, but the most direct difference is their built-in policy - eSIM is a dedicated chip connected to the processor, but iSIM is embedded in the main SoC along with the device processor; the latter is more integrated.
iSIM complies with the GSMA (Global Association for Systems for Mobile) specifications and allows for increased memory capacity, enhanced performance, and higher system integration. With the introduction of iSIM cards, a separate chip is no longer required like eSIM, but instead eliminates the proprietary space allocated to SIM services and is embedded directly in the device's application processor.
Although eSIM and iSIM have advantages over physical SIM cards, the application of eSIM and iSIM is not high from the perspective of practical application, especially the latter.
Leifeng network learned that at present, there is no commercial use of eSIM technology for smart phones in the mainland, and only some smart watches and other devices can open eSIM services.
An industry source told Leifeng Network, "iSIM is an upgrade based on eSIM, and there are not too many technical difficulties to realize the application of iSIM technology, and the real difficulty lies in operators."
To realize the application of iSIM technology, chip manufacturers, mobile phone manufacturers, and operators are indispensable. From the actual situation, chip manufacturers are actively promoting the landing of this technology, and for mobile phone manufacturers, by canceling the SIM card to slim down the internal space of the mobile phone is more beneficial than harmful, only in the operator this link, iSIM encountered a barrier.
Imagine that if the operator is completely liberalized, the chip manufacturer integrates the SIM card function into the SoC, and the user can switch the operator at will, then the operator will naturally lose the ability to control the user and traffic.
Obviously, this is a scenario that operators would not want to see.
However, any trend of technological development will never be stagnant by the interests of some groups. Counterpoint Research data shows that nearly 5 billion consumer electronics products are expected to support iSIM by 2025, and the main application teams are smartphones, smart watches, CPEs (client devices) and so on.
It is not difficult to imagine that if iSIM can be applied to smart electronic devices such as smartphones, the exit of SIM cards will not be far away.
Resources:
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2022/01/18/vodafone-qualcomm-technologies-and-thales-deliver-world-first-smartphone
https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/mobile/connectivity/isim
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