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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

#471

Post by Terretta »

dbbk wrote: post #463
conradev wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meant this (from the same article): > When outside the United States, cellular phone calls cost $0.20 per minute, data costs the same $10 per gigabyte (i.e. there are no extra data charges outside of the US), and texting is free

Sorry, $10 per gigabyte? That's ludicrously expensive.

In my international travel, where I used to (a) carry an unlocked phone, then (b) used to use the second (physical) SIM slot once that became available, I would buy SIMs from local carrier shops or kiosks (whichever costs less), and found that $10/GB is really not ludicrously expensive in first world markets.

It's difficult to get SIMs that work in local places around the world that do everything you need to do and cost much less than that. Plus the ones you buy locally have different numbers.

Eventually I switched this around, I put my US carrier in my SIM slot, and I use eSIM on the phone to get decent digital plans "in market". Some are digital via apps, some are QR codes from shops or kiosks.

eSIM seems to have better or at least competitive pricing for the last 4 years or so.

// Note I'm generally using a lot of data, so cost matters. The only thing I've found much cheaper is to get a local carrier who also offers free unlimited WiFi from local APs. Anywhere this works, that naturally beats any cell-only plan. You usually won't find this except by searching local language sites or going into local carrier stores and asking.

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

#472

Post by fomine3 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #350
Abroszka wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But my phone with USB-C, 2 SIM, SD card and headphone jack is alraedy waterproof. I literally wash it with soap and water to clean it...

Waterproofing is a spectrum ( https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207043 ), and seals fail over time. The fewer holes from the outside of the device to the inside, the fewer points of failure for the waterproofing. It was an openly stated reason for the move, and the first Apple phones to ditch the jack were the first to hit IP67 as a result.

> first to hit IP67

I don't know why you believe.

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

#474

Post by ceejayoz »

fomine3 wrote: post #472
ceejayoz wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waterproofing is a spectrum ( https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207043 ), and seals fail over time. The fewer holes from the outside of the device to the inside, the fewer points of failure for the waterproofing. It was an openly stated reason for the move, and the first Apple phones to ditch the jack were the first to hit IP67 as a result.

> first to hit IP67 I don't know why you believe.

The first Apple phones to meet it, yes. I linked the Apple doc elsewhere in the thread about which ones meet which standards.

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

#475

Post by boondaburrah »

smoovb wrote: post #305
boondaburrah wrote: post #65

I can't understand why anyone would want this. Being able to physically swap sims so I don't ever have to deal with carrier customer service is a /good/ thing, especially when it's in the carrier's interest to make this as difficult as possible.

You are aware you can have 10 or more eSIMs plans on an iPhone, right? You are free to swap between them as you wish? You are only locked into a single carrier if you purchase the iPhone thru that carrier. Always purchasing and unlocked phone is what solves this.

All of this depends on the good graces of the company that wrote the software, and I don't see how they can be trusted over good ol' physically removing a card and putting a different one in. Especially when they have a track record of being abusive to customers.

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

#476

Post by avianlyric »

ubercow13 wrote: post #439
avianlyric wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you basing that assertion on? All the eSIMs I’ve ever used have come direct from the carrier, and in some cases those carriers have very small presence and aren’t know for being at the front of Apple queue for services. Then there’s the dozens of companies in the App Store like https://www.dentwireless.com/ who all provide eSIMs for international travel. I find it hard to believe they all have agreements wit…

There are various threads on their developer forums alluding to it, eg. https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/109874 https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/110829 https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/109797

Of the threads you’ve listed, one deals with app entitlements to call the addPlan API, which is nice to have so a carrier app can directly provision an eSIM, but not needed for eSIM provisioning via QR code. For the other two threads, it’s the same person both times making the assertion Apple’s eSIM is proprietary, with all comments being 3 years olds and discussing a beta iOS version.

So would take all of those sources with a large pinch of salt. If Apples eSIMs we’re proprietary, I would expect to be easy to find articles discussing the fact, given they’ve been around for a few years now.

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

#477

Post by sangnoir »

rosndo wrote: post #323
pessimizer wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is marketing. It's about putting Apple in the middle of plans and activation, and getting rid of a physical standard.

Quoted post unavailable.

I doubt payment is part of the spec, but I bet you a dollar Apple Payments is going to factor into the "seamless provisioning experience".

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

#478

Post by FDSGSG »

sangnoir wrote: post #477
rosndo wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I doubt payment is part of the spec, but I bet you a dollar Apple Payments is going to factor into the "seamless provisioning experience".

You would lose that dollar. eSIMs have been available on iOS for ages and have nothing to do with "Apple Payments".

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

#479

Post by FDSGSG »

ubercow13 wrote: post #426
mrcode007 wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know where you’re pulling these claims out from but here are the specs: https://www.gsma.com/esim/esim-specification/ In addition you can get ST micro data sheets for full blown electrical and mechanical data sheets for free

Apple doesn’t use this eSIM spec, they have their own proprietary one.

Do you have a source for this?

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

#480

Post by FDSGSG »

MilaM wrote: post #433
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…

Airalo sounds interesting. I'm a bit suspicious of the offering though after studying their website. No business address, no mention where it's based, privacy policy is not GDRP compliant. Not sure if this is a serious business.

Serious question: Who has the time to research all that stuff before buying a 5 euro eSIM? Why bother?

Airalo is legit, whether or not they're "serious" really doesn't matter.

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