Phone to cancel physical SIM card? It's not that simple

Issue 1254

Phone to cancel physical SIM card? It's not that simple

Author | Xiao Yulin planned | Liu Keli

Creative fulfillment | Xiao Yulin Proofreader | Liu Fangzuo

The physical SIM card has ushered in another blow, and in the process of promoting and popularizing the eSIM card, the iSIM card has come again. Last week, Qualcomm launched iSIM card technology, and the first iSIM card mobile phone was officially launched. iSIM card technology builds the SIM card directly into the processor, making it more secure than eSIM cards and can also be configured remotely. Canceling the physical SIM card seems to have become the focus of technology, on the mobile phone, can the physical SIM card be officially canceled?

Users have no reason to try early

Mobile phone manufacturers do want to cancel physical SIM cards, and Apple is one of the radicals. The industry has repeatedly reported that the iPhone should achieve a non-porous design and completely cancel the opening holes on the fuselage. The 3.5mm headphone jack has disappeared from the iPhone, and the next step may be the charging connector and SIM card slot. It is said that this year Apple will work with U.S. carriers to launch an iPhone that only supports eSIM cards.

Removing the physical SIM card can increase the sealing of the phone and save more space inside the phone. However, for users, replacing the eSIM card requires a certain operating cost, and the technical innovation has not been implemented at the application level, and it does not matter whether it is replaced or not. eSIM cards have been promoted for many years, and only on some smart watches have been maximally applied, as for the promotion of iSIM cards, it may take more time.

The maintenance cost is too large and not environmentally friendly

If the SIM card and cpu are tied together, any one of them goes wrong, the entire chip has to be replaced, and the user's maintenance cost will be more than doubled...

If one of them really has a problem, it is no longer repaired, then change the mobile phone, if you change the mobile phone, the SIM card will be abolished, but the CPU of the new mobile phone should also have its own SIM card, then the original SIM card is good to be scrapped, it must be a waste of semiconductor resources and not environmentally friendly.

Conflict of interest with the operator

iSIM card technology is an innovation from chip manufacturers, whether it can be promoted or not has the support of operators, but the technical advantages of iSIM cards are not beneficial to operators.

The first is that the iSIM card reduces the user's transfer cost, which is naturally not expected by operators. At present, user number portability has also experienced long-term challenges, not to mention the use of iSIM cards to "one-click network transfer" in the future. In addition, operators also need to deploy services at a cost, and remote iSIM card configuration increases resources, but it cannot be exchanged for profits.

Conclusion

The advantage of iSIM cards is in the field of Internet of Things, which can bring mobile experiences to laptops, tablets, virtual reality platforms, IoT devices, wearables, and more. Therefore, the technology provider of the iSIM card may also charge patent fees to operators, manufacturers, etc., and the future technology prospects can be imagined without obvious market applications.