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Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

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Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#101

Post by andreareina »

yosito wrote: post #91

People are saying this is bad because you won't be able to swap phones without relying on the carrier to provision a new eSIM for you. I have the same gut reaction, but with my current physical SIM, I have to install the carrier's app, and there are many phones which don't work with my carrier, despite being unlocked phones and unlocked SIMs. And let's not forget that locking phones and SIMs has been common practice…

I have literally never had to worry about my phone not taking the SIM out of the box. Put the SIM in, maybe reboot, and I'm off to the races. Is this a USA carrier thing??

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#102

Post by yepthatsreality »

lmilcin wrote: post #75
yepthatsreality wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop buying Apple products.

You missed the part where wherever Apple goes everybody else will follow in couple of years.

Yet to be seen. You can still buy a non-Apple camera phone with a headphone jack. There will be choices, perhaps not chic choices.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#103

Post by jdavis703 »

jwr wrote: post #66

I am very worried about this. While I love (and sometimes use) eSIMs, the physical SIM has a huge advantage in that it gives me freedom. It's the revolution that GSM brought: just take your SIM and move it to a different phone. No permission required. Arguably we've become slaves to ecosystems of either Apple or Google at this point, as pretty much nobody uses a phone as "just a phone", you need to have an account wi…

There’s still IMEI locks. A lot of prepaid carriers in Europe won’t or can’t sell you a SIM card for a US phone (one man claimed it was due to carriers trying to reduce phone theft). Note, my phone was fully paid for, and therefor unlocked.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#104

Post by rosndo »

ceejayoz wrote: post #98
Nextgrid wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, you can't. The e-SIM provisioning process is under the control of the carrier. They give you a QR code (or SM-DP string) which you scan/enter, your phone then contacts the carrier and after some back and forth acquires cryptographic keys which are stored in the eSIM chip. There is no way to extract these cryptographic keys and enter them into another phone. Instead, you have to repeat the whole process and get…

Could Apple permit you to store multiple provisioned eSIMs on one device, and switch between via UI?

That’s literally how it works… You can have as many eSIMs as you’d like, I currently have 8 on my phone and can choose which two I want to have active at any time.

I’m not sure why nextgrid is constructing this weird technological strawman.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#105

Post by Nextgrid »

rosndo wrote: post #104
ceejayoz wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could Apple permit you to store multiple provisioned eSIMs on one device, and switch between via UI?

That’s literally how it works… You can have as many eSIMs as you’d like, I currently have 8 on my phone and can choose which two I want to have active at any time. I’m not sure why nextgrid is constructing this weird technological strawman.

Apologies - I was not aware you can have multiple eSIMs stored. If that's the case it lessens the impact, though switching between phones is still a problem.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#107

Post by mrtksn »

jwr wrote: post #66

I am very worried about this. While I love (and sometimes use) eSIMs, the physical SIM has a huge advantage in that it gives me freedom. It's the revolution that GSM brought: just take your SIM and move it to a different phone. No permission required. Arguably we've become slaves to ecosystems of either Apple or Google at this point, as pretty much nobody uses a phone as "just a phone", you need to have an account wi…

I share your concerns but at the same time I think, why would we even need a SIM? Isn't it simply a device for accessing account on someones system?

We don't have SIMs for ADSL or Fiber internet? We don't have SIMs for Reddit ot Twitter? Why would we have SIMs accessing GSM networks? There's no fundamental reason why we simply don't sign in into these networks like signing in to HN.

Surely, it adds a layer of anonymity and freedom where you simply use the system by paying it however there's an ongoing trend all over the world of de-anonymisation. In many places they are asking for ID and other documents in order to provide you with a SIM.

Physical SIM now means, it's yet another obsolete tech that costs money and takes space inside the devices only to sustain anonymity that is no longer desired.

SIM is just another causality on the way towards the tightly controlled world.

IMHO, it needs to happen at some point but we also need to rethink our rights in a world that is run by these huge networks.

Wouldn't be nice if our phones could have simply scanned for the networks, receive the offers from the available networks, pay and start using it?

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#108

Post by adriancr »

lifty wrote: post #3

Is there a good reason why mobile phones still have SIM cards, besides the historical reasons?

many advantages, If your phone dies, you just move sim card and the new phone works has your old phone number.

You buy a new phone, say you have an android and buy an iphone or reverse... you can easily move the sim card as you want. I'm not even sure how you would do that with eSIM.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#109

Post by amelius »

One of the nice things about the internet is that IP addresses can't be (legally) tied to the person using it.

Smartphones are personal devices, and without SIM cards a network connection can be tied to the person using it. This is a fundamental change and we should think hard if we want that to happen.

Re: Apple said to be preparing for iPhones without SIM card slot in 2022

#110

Post by rosndo »

Nextgrid wrote: post #105
rosndo wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s literally how it works… You can have as many eSIMs as you’d like, I currently have 8 on my phone and can choose which two I want to have active at any time. I’m not sure why nextgrid is constructing this weird technological strawman.

Apologies - I was not aware you can have multiple eSIMs stored. If that's the case it lessens the impact, though switching between phones is still a problem.

Not any more than with regular physical SIMs, if your carrier wants to be shit they can lock a physical SIM to a specific device too.
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