eSIM and iSIM chips that will come in future phones What are they and what is the difference between them?
Although the vast majority of mobile phones today continue to use classic SIM cards, everything indicates that the most popular in the future will be eSIM and iSIM. These two technologies seek to replace SIM cards by integrating them inside mobile phones. We have already talked to you about eSIMs in the past, so you are sure to already know them well.
Now, it’s very likely that you don’t know what iSIM is and how it differs from eSIM, because it’s a newer technology. In fact, there are no phones on the market with iSIM: Vodafone and Qualcomm are testing it in Europe. So, before carriers start using it, we’ll see what this technology looks like and how it differs from eSIM.
eSIM and iSIM are not cards that you can insert and remove from your phone like SIM cards. They are technologies built into phones that securely store your phone number and access codes with your phone carrier.
Both eSIM and iSIM are permanently embedded inside the phone, saving space and making the phones lighter and thinner. Both eSIM and iSIM are configurable: they let you choose the carriers you want, and switch your phone number to another carrier at will, without having to buy a SIM card.
Any changes you want to make to your line can be made over the mobile network rather than physically changing the SIM. Obviously, this can only be done by the carriers. But the best thing about eSIMs and iSIMs is that they can be used to use the same phone with multiple carriers, making international roaming much simpler.
In the future, it should be possible to manage credentials and access multiple devices using an eSIM or iSIM using a single charge. This applies to both the business world and the consumer world.
- All the differences between eSIM and iSIM
The main difference between eSIM and iSIM lies in their implementation. While eSIM is a dedicated chip soldered into the mobile processor, iSIM is integrated into the processor (or rather SoC). This means that iSIM does not take up any extra space inside smartphones. On the other hand, eSIM takes up some space (although not much).
The difference may be subtle, but it is important for security purposes. iSIM is primarily designed for Internet of Things (IoT) devices due to the enhanced security provided by integrating the SIM card into the SoC. Devices are tamper-proof using external nano SIMs or eSIMs and take advantage of the tamper-proof SoC offered by ARM-based chips. This makes it virtually impossible to exploit the network hardware or software.
In short, iSIM is an eSIM that takes up less space and has better security. In addition, since they are integrated into SoCs (chips that include the CPU, GPU, and other components needed to power the hardware), iSIMs allow the mobile phone to be brought to more devices: virtual reality or augmented reality glasses, wearables, etc. Anyway, we hope this explanation was useful to you.