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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

#401

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

zackmorris wrote: post #263

Is there a way to send a strong signal that we don't want this? Companies seem to think that they can make infinite money by denying customers what they want. But in this case, the only thing propping up the iPhone is the dominant market position of Apple and whatever intellectual property protections and lobbying allow Apple to keep bundling their hardware and software. Maybe it's time to remind them of their legal…

> But in this case, the only thing propping up the iPhone is the dominant market position of Apple

Surely, Apple selling lots of phones has nothing to do with people buying a product that appeals to them, and only to do their evil lobbying and manipulation.

Too bad this evil company Apple has replaced the Apple of your youth, that was cool, and not a for-profit company.

Homie, they’re removing the SIM card because they have the data no one uses it. You’re reaching into IDK-WHAT just to put words on the page. It’ll be OKAY.

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

#402

Post by aeyes »

aranelsurion wrote: post #242
maratc wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if I'm traveling I can just buy a SIM card at a kiosk and pop it in If you're traveling you sometimes need to show your passport and fill out forms in a foreign language (looking at you, Germany). Adding eSIM is a lot easier, and will let you keep your regular phone connected when someone rings you (which is not happening a lot lately) or sends you a code via SMS. There are many reasons to keep SIM cards but travel…

It's not a major problem for many people visiting Germany since roaming charges no longer apply within EU and you can carry your operator's plan to other EU countries, which IMO eliminates the need to buy a new SIM card altogether for many people. It only sucks if you come from somewhere else not in EU. Even then operators (iirc at least Vodafone) offer remote verification of documents over a video call, so it's not…

I just did this in Germany last week, it has gotten a lot more painful. They now want an official document showing your German address (Personalausweis or Meldebescheinigung) making it impossible for foreign visitors to get a German SIM. Two years ago it still worked with only my passport.

Next time I'll just do roaming on a prepaid card from my home country, unfortunately my current provider doesn't support roaming in Germany.

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

#403

Post by Abroszka »

ceejayoz wrote: post #366
Abroszka wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They just said that to make people feel better. My Samsung A8 2018 with jack port is IP68/IP67.

Sure, and those standards are immersion "up to 30 minutes" sort of scenarios. Do it day in and day out and the seals will fail over time. Fewer seals, fewer seal failures . (Salt water can be fun on the metal contacts, too.) I expect Apple to go induction-only charging at some point, for similar reasons.

Yeah, but throwing away lot's of good features so that you can keep your phone underwater all day just doesn't make sense.

Waterproofing is possible right now and works for almost all normal use cases. No need to remove features.

What Apple is doing is definitely not for waterproofing.

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

#404

Post by smileybarry »

k8sToGo wrote: post #379
conradev wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, there is nothing to indicate this is a power grab by Apple. Google supports eSIM. Google can sell you cell service for your iPhone from the couch. If any phone manufacturer is trying to compete with the carriers, it would look a lot like Google, which made a global MVNO. Yes, there is usually a business motive behind every business decision. The GSMA makes it sound like the carriers want it, as well as the pho…

I imported my Pixel 5 to Switzerland which is technically not supported. Had to switch my esim to a physician because the esim didn't want to activate and also didn't get regonized by the phone. So much about support and independence.

That's more to do with the carrier than the eSIM standard or phone, though. My iPhone supports eSIM but my carrier (and the others, apparently) refuses to provision eSIMs for anything that isn't a smartwatch.

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

#405

Post by xxpor »

sandworm101 wrote: post #393
aorth wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand. I can get an eSIM from my telecom provider and scan it with a QR Code to activate it in Android. I've done this with Telenor in Europe and Zain in the Middle East. It works great. I can even switch between them on the fly! How does the phone manufacturer have anything to do with it? My only wish is to support multiple eSIMs, as now I only have one physical SIM slot and one eSIM.

You can get one today. Tomorrow, after a "security update", apple could just decide that it doesnt like certain ISPs and reject thier virtual sims. Rejecting hardware sims is much more difficult and is likely a violation in many jurisdictions.

Why wouldn't rejecting eSIMs be a violation then?

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

#406

Post by dudus »

Tijdreiziger wrote: post #358
conradev wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, there is nothing to indicate this is a power grab by Apple. Google supports eSIM. Google can sell you cell service for your iPhone from the couch. If any phone manufacturer is trying to compete with the carriers, it would look a lot like Google, which made a global MVNO. Yes, there is usually a business motive behind every business decision. The GSMA makes it sound like the carriers want it, as well as the pho…

> [...] Google, which made a global MVNO. > Google Fi is a service for US residents only, as of late 2019. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fi

While iPhones are supported on Google Fi they don't support 5G. Other Google Fi phones support 5G without problems. But 5G on iPhones has been "coming" for years. I have no idea what's taking so long.

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

#407

Post by lil_dispaches »

keraf wrote: post #57

Hopefully by removing the SIM tray, they have now enough space to put the headphone jack back. (bit of sarcasm but I really miss headphone jacks in mobile phones)

Have you seen the 13? It is almost fat enough for a 1/4" jack.

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

#408

Post by passivate »

headmelted wrote: post #164
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'm actually more worried about a different problem - I don't care about removing the physical SIM slot but I'm really concerned about halving the amount of numbers someone can have on a single device. Phone numbers are an utterly terrible system. Having to give a single number out to everyone is a stupid beyond belief design that we just tolerate year after year. That SIM-based 2FA exists makes this even worse. Appl…

I haven't thought about this too deeply, but I was thinking if you can have every phone come with "free" global network access - just data. i.e. get rid of the current tech for voice calls, so that all phone calls will be over a VOIP type service. And you can't use the phone without an active account with one of the providers that participate in this global access program. Each provider can bill other providers on the backend when a roaming subscriber uses their network.

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

#409

Post by betwixthewires »

gretch wrote: post #386
deep-root wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were correct. They're saying your phone service identity (I am X number on Y network plan). Not your personal identity (pictures of your kids and passwords). Today if your phone fails, you can pop a sim in another phone and regain your phone service identity within minutes. No SIM, it could take days or even weeks.

> Today if your phone fails, you can pop a sim in another phone and regain your phone service identity within minutes. No SIM, it could take days or even weeks. This doesn’t make any sense. Anything that can be done using a physical sim, you can do faster with e-sim (input data into fields). What if you don’t have another physical sim ready to go? It’s the middle of the night and stores are closed. Your car won’t sta…

You don't need a new SIM to which phones, that's the point. You only need a different phone.

Who can do it faster? Me? Or the dude I just waited on hold for for 45 minutes (on someone else's phone i borrowed because I'm lucky enough to be around someone who is there to let me use their phone for 45 minutes) sitting in a call center somewhere?

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

#410

Post by smileybarry »

NullPrefix wrote: post #375
pieterhg wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hasn't been my experience. I use only eSIMs now on an iPhone 13. I buy eSIMs via Airalo's iOS app (not affiliated, not an ad but love it). It takes me 30 seconds from buying an eSIM in any country worldwide from their app, paying with Apple Pay, to having it active and working with data and voice line. I travel a lot and before it'd take 15 minutes to sometimes an hour of driving to a phone shop or finding it at…

>And I can run 2x eSIMs at the same time Dual SIM devices were available for a long time. Yes, most of them were dual standy sim, which meant that you wouldn't get calls from one while talking on another.

> Dual SIM devices were available for a long time.

Dual eSIM, however, are fairly new.

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