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Forced eSIMs

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Revision as of 00:59, 7 February 2025 by TrustyGeorge (talk | contribs) (Grammar and capitalisation revision.)

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Hardware

Understanding modern sim card & eSIM (embedded SIM) hardware.

The current global modern standard by market adoption for SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards are Nano-SIM form factor, universal integrated circuit card (UICC) SOC's (system on a chip) cards.[1][2] This is the smaller SIM card you started seeing in every handset from every major phone manufacturer beginning with hardware releases after 2012.[3] Just like your phone, computer, or any other device, these cards have their own CPU, RAM, ROM and Digital I/O.[4] eUICC (embedded UICC), also known as e-SIM cards, are a form of highly re-programmable SIM typically as BGA IC chips soldered directly to the phone's logic board during manufacturing.

iPhone

Apple introduced eUICC chips & eSIM support alongside the release of the iPhone 12 series in 2020[5] and has continued this feature to date.[6] With the launch of the US model of the iPhone 14 series, iPhones dropped hardware support of user replaceable UICC Nano-SIM cards.[7] According to Apple, "iPhone 14 models and later that are eSIM only can activate without a Wi-Fi network." [8] In all other Apple model varieties - International and China - Nano-SIM remained supported outside the United States; by the 14 series, 15 series and 16 series. (Most recent release as of writing 2/7/25.)

This transition raised further concerns about potentials for abuse if unregulated, including Vendor lock in, planned obsolescence, and Anti competitive behavior in the form of used market restrictions [9][10]

Future speculation

-NOTE- The sources below are not to this wiki's overall standards of credibility and will likely be changed to first party sources from the manufacturer later once more reliable information is available.

  • iPhone 17 Air:

According to unofficial preliminary specifications for the iPhone 17 Air, support for Nano-SIM will be entirely dropped for the model across the world.[11] [12] This is based on rumors and speculations, however the physical size of the device has been disclosed as "5.5mm" by Ming-Chi Kuo (a medium tech trade blogger described as "TF International Securities analyst who shares observations and predictions of tech industry trends"), which would make Nano-SIM support a significant enough engineering challenge, as it's widely considered unviable and/or unlikely.[13]

End note -

The industry transition to Integrated SIM (iSIM) will be indistinguishable from EUICC e-SIMs to the end user. However with iSIM, it would be embedded directly into the phone's SoC or CPU die.[14] This will irreversibly link data identifiers like SIM ID history with the device's IMEI and hardware IDs, even through highly technical means such as micro-soldering.[15]

This transition would raise further concerns about potentials for abuse if unregulated, including Vendor lock in, planned obsolescence, and Anti competitive behavior, in the form of used market restrictions.[9][10]

Samsung Galaxy

Samsung introduced e-SIM support in 2020 with the Galaxy S20 series of phones and continues nano-SIM support to the current day as of writing (with 2025's S25 series of Galaxy phones.)[16]

Google Pixel

All Google Pixel phones currently support nano-SIM.[17]

Mobile carriers & Networks

United states Mobile phone networks

A fairly recent behavior of major mobile carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.) is that they may sometimes supply devices with a digital SIM card, or eSIM card without the option of a traditional Nano-SIM alternative.[citation needed]

European Union's mobile phone networks[citation needed]

eUICC/eSIM tech is basically not yet widely adopted in this market *

China's Mobile phone networks

eUICC/eSIM tech is basically not yet widely adopted in this market *

References

  1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_card#Developments
  2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_integrated_circuit_card
  3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_card#Nano-SIM
  4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_integrated_circuit_card#design
  5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_12 https://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_12-10509.php https://www.apple.com/by/iphone-12/specs/
  6. ↑ https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?chkESIM=selected&chkReview=selected&sMakers=48&sAvailabilities=1,2&s5Gs=0&idCardslot=3
  7. ↑ https://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_14-11861.php https://support.apple.com/en-us/118669
  8. ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/118669
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 https://www.apple.com/privacy/control/
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
  11. ↑ https://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_17_air-13502.php https://support.apple.com/en-us/101569
  12. ↑ https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/iphone-17/#sim_tray https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apples-thin-iphone-has-no-physical-sims-that-could-dampen-china-sales
  13. ↑ https://medium.com/@mingchikuo/apple%E5%9C%A82025%E5%B9%B4%E5%8F%AF%E8%83%BD%E5%B0%87%E9%9D%A2%E8%87%A8%E6%9B%B4%E7%82%BA%E5%9A%B4%E5%B3%BB%E7%9A%84%E6%8C%91%E6%88%B0-%E9%A0%88%E8%AC%B9%E6%85%8E%E9%9D%A2%E5%B0%8D%E5%B8%82%E5%A0%B4%E5%85%88%E5%89%8D%E9%81%8E%E5%BA%A6%E6%A8%82%E8%A7%80%E5%B0%8E%E8%87%B4%E7%9A%84%E6%BD%9B%E5%9C%A8%E4%B8%8B%E8%A1%8C%E9%A2%A8%E9%9A%AA-6256c091f06d
  14. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESIM
  15. ↑ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9847909/#sec001
  16. ↑ https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung-phones-9.php
  17. ↑ https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/7086887?hl=en#:~:text=You%20can%20connect%20your%20phone,of%20getting%20a%20new%20one.
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