Tech News Desk – In this digital age, everyone has a mobile phone in their hand. It is possible that you are also reading this article on your mobile phone. If you use mobile now, then you must know what is the use of this sim. Same Jio, Airtel, Vi or in some cases BSNL, MTNL have a small chip, which is installed in your phone. Then the network comes in the phone and then you use the same network to run your phone.
Earlier the sim used to come in big size. It got smaller over time, from standard to micro and micro to nano. The sim which we can touch is called physical sim. Now many phone maker companies have also started providing eSIM facility in their phones. But what is it, how does it work and how is it different from a physical SIM? Similar questions often come up regarding eSIM. In this article we will try to know the answers to these questions. But first listen (meaning read) a story.
Simple phone, dual sim phone, dual sim smartphone… now eSIM phone
There was a time when mobile phones used to have only one SIM slot. In 2010, Nokia launched the first dual SIM phone in India. The purpose of dual SIM phones was to use separate numbers for work and personal contacts. These phones proved to be a boon for the employees who were given separate numbers from the office. Then many more companies started launching dual sim phones. In the year 2011, Motorola launched India’s first dual SIM Android phone. After this dual sim phone made a splash in the android market. Almost every phone started coming with dual sim.
But still very few people needed dual sim. In such a situation, the second SIM slot of most people’s phones remained empty. The reason was – who will get the recharge done on two numbers. But in 2016 Jio came. Jio initially offered everything for free. Calling, SMS and data all free. But one more thing had happened before the arrival of Jio, people’s numbers had been registered on almost every important portal from bank to PAN and Aadhaar. At the same time, Jio’s offer was also very promising and people had an empty slot for SIM in their phone. He took Jio’s sim.
Physical SIMs come in standard, micro and nano sizes
After 6-7 months, when Jio stopped the free service, till then people’s Jio numbers were distributed. People had made Jio a personal number and the old number a business number. So he continued with both the numbers as he was getting better network and faster internet on Jio. The reason people who had two SIMs didn’t have Jio was because there was no interstate number portability back then. So people started using the home town number that childhood friends and relatives have. Simultaneously, work or studies started running the number of the new place separately. Because both the numbers were working.
But now a large part of smartphone users are shifting towards premium smartphones. Apple’s iPhone remains on top among premium smartphones. Now iPhone has always been making single sim phones. In such a situation, people had to keep two phones to run two numbers. Amid rising demand, Apple launched eSim with iPhoneXS, iPhone XS MAX and iPhoneXR. Earlier, Samsung launched its Gear S2 smartwatch and Apple launched its Apple Watch. Actually, all the phones of the iPhone 14 series launched in the US have only SIM support. Physical sim tray is not given. Before Apple, Google launched Pixel 2 with ISIM support. In today’s time, almost all premium mobile phones come with the facility of ISIM.
But what is this eSIM?
You can consider eSIM as the digital version of the SIM card. You do not need to go to the shop to buy this sim, but for this a sim chip is already present in your phone, you have to attach this chip to your number and network provider with the help of internet. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection to generate the eSIM. All phones that support eSIM also come with a physical SIM slot, so that those who want to use a physical SIM can use it. Only the US version of the iPhone 14 series phones do not have a physical SIM slot. At the same time, China is a country where eSIM does not work. To use eSIM only two things are required, one is that your phone is compatible with it and second is that the network you want to use supports eSIM.