Qualcomm and Thales, a France-based IT company, have announced the first commercially deployable iSIM (integrated subscriber identity module) at MWC 2023. Although the acronym uses most of the same letters, iSIMs do differ slightly from eSIMs. But only in ways that matter to smartphone manufacturers.
The physical SIM card has been dying a slow death for the better part of a decade. Everyone thought the introduction of the eSIM (embedded SIM) in 2017 would expedite that death. Some American iPhone 14 models, for example, don’t have a physical SIM tray at all. So maybe the SIM has died. Just not in South Africa. Yet.
iSIM is not Apple’s new life simulation game
In case you need a reminder, the physical SIM card in your smartphone contains a few bits of info that your mobile service provider uses to identify (nudge nudge) you. It matches your voice and data usage to your account so it knows how much money you owe (among other things).
eSIMs do exactly the same thing, just on a dedicated embedded (wink wink) chip in your device rather than a piece of plastic. The new iSIM standard takes that a step further. It removes the need for a dedicated embedded chip and integrates (we got there) your subscriber info into a special section of your device’s main processor.
But why?
The benefits of ditching the plastic chip and embedded chip mean smartphone makers don’t have to worry about making provisions for a SIM tray or special chip in their devices. This should, in theory, reduce the manufacturing cost of smartphones.
If you’re thinking that might mean cheaper smartphones, well… that’s technically possible. But the amount saved might not be great enough to reflect in the shelf price. And do you really think smartphone companies are looking for ways to save you money?
In any case, this is only possible with Qualcomm’s new-ish Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. At least for now. This new technology is still in its early days so it’ll be another few months at least before we see wider adoption in more affordable smartphones.
Read More: Say goodbye to physical SIM cards – Research predicts a spike in eSIM devices
Another obstacle to mantle if you want to ditch your physical SIM in South Africa is our mobile service providers. Our biggest providers, Vodacom and MTN, offer eSIM support for smartphones and wearables but you have to sign up for a contract first. And pay the ‘activation fee’ with Vodacom.
Cell C and Telkom also offer eSIM support but only for smartphones and not wearable devices. Both offer eSIMs to pre-paid customers but both also charge ‘activation fees’.
Maybe the iSIM is just what a country like South Africa needs. We could just skip eSIMs and go straight to iSIMs. Maybe, but probably not. iSIM adoption is likely to take even longer than eSIMs, and we’re only just catching up to that.