Apple presented the latest iPhones at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino – with a brighter display, faster processor and no slot for SIM cards.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
san francisco Apple is taking a step that no major smartphone manufacturer has dared to take: The company is completely omitting the SIM card slot in its latest devices in the USA. In the future, customers will have to transfer their cell phone numbers digitally to the devices. SIM cards should be abolished. Apple is taking a step in the right direction.
SIM cards are outdated. Today’s smartphones are wearable supercomputers. SIM cards, on the other hand, represent technology that is decades old. In fact, the eSIM has been a practical, digital alternative since 2016. But it is only rarely used.
Apple is now forcing its customers in the USA to switch to the eSIM – and with it the network operators. In Germany, the system could also be easily changed over. Above all, however, the network operators have to play their part.
The three mobile operators in Germany – Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica – also offer solutions for eSIM, but often not in all tariffs. In addition, the setup is sometimes very cumbersome. And switching eSIM from one device to another is difficult. That needs to change.
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Apple has already prepared steps to make using eSIM easier. In the future, it should be possible to transfer an eSIM from one iPhone to another via Bluetooth. The devices just have to be next to each other.
Getting rid of physical SIM cards could have many benefits. In the future, smartphones will be able to store a number of different eSIMs and thus also use their numbers. On vacation, travelers could use a local eSIM to make cheap calls while remaining reachable on their home number.
In addition, eSIMs could increase competition in the mobile communications market. Today, changing a contract is often time-consuming – partly because SIM cards are often sent by post and then have to be exchanged. This step is omitted when using eSIMs.
Still, Apple is going a step too far. It simply doesn’t make sense to radically abolish the slot for SIM cards. The change to the eSIM must be initiated. But it will take years. Users of US iPhones without a physical SIM card are likely to experience a number of problems.
When traveling abroad, for example, it could be a problem not being able to easily insert a SIM card from a local provider into your iPhone. After all, there are still many network operators in the world who do not use eSIM at all or only use it to a very limited extent. In addition, the value of the iPhones without a SIM slot on the used market could be significantly lower – precisely because they have a limited range of functions.
No question: SIM cards should be abolished. Nevertheless, I personally wouldn’t want to buy a device at the moment that I couldn’t use a physical SIM card for in an emergency.
More: Apple takes a radical step with the new iPhones and eliminates the SIM card slot.