Over 225 Million eSIM Smartphones to Enter the Market in 2020
Since the inception of eSIMs, they’ve started to become more accepted by consumers around the world. Global tech market firm ABI Research has noted that with the launch of Samsung’s S20 devices, the market for eSIM phones is growing at an alarming rate. The company expects to see an influx of new phones of the next year, taking the number of them in operation to over 225 million. The eSIM market exploded in popularity after Apple started making its phones compatible with the technology. Speculators expected Samsung to be the next major manufacturer to start enabling the technology on their handsets. Now, as the company begins to expand its production of eSIM phones, the future looks bright for a shift away from traditional SIM card systems.
Understanding eSIM Technology
eSIMs are similar to standard physical SIM cards in operation, but they’re virtual. In most phones where they show up, they take the place of the second SIM card slot. Many of the phones manufactured with eSIM slots replace one of the two standard SIM slots that the handset would typically ship with. There’s still a space for the first micro or mini-SIM card. eSIM stands for “Embedded SIM” and is distinct because of a lack of a physical medium to store the information that a traditional SIM card would have. They are very convenient for users since they can change their carrier by merely making a phone call to reprogram the eSIM to the new network.
The Evolution of Technology
SIM cards are an old technology whose time is past. eSIM technology is likely to replace those physical chips, making for a more streamlined user interface system. If users are looking to switch over to new phones or have their accounts accessible on multiple handsets, it’s a simple matter of connecting a new handset to their subscription service. As a side effect, it would make it difficult for malicious users to get and use “burner” phones since the numbers would no longer be disposable, but instead linked to an account.
