Xiaomi will launch a SIM card that also works as a microSD. In recent years we have seen many mobiles, especially high-end ones, which have reached the market without a microSD card slot. An example of this is the iPhone 11 and the Google Pixel 4. What is the cause of that? As manufacturers say that slot occupies an important space that can be used to integrate other components to the mobile. Also, microSD cards do not work like the internal storage, in terms of speed.
Even so, the vast majority of users consider that it is necessary to be able to expand the internal storage on any device, since now mobile phones can record in 4K or even download very heavy movies in that resolution thanks to 5G. Faced with this problem, Xiaomi has devised a great solution that satisfies the wishes of users without neglecting the design of the manufacturers. A SIM card that can work as a microSD. The Chinese brand has just patented this card.
This is the Xiaomi SIM card that works as a microSD
If there is at least one slot that every smartphone must have to be considered a “phone,” it is that of the SIM card. Therefore, if the phones of the future will not have microSD card slots, then it would be best to take advantage of that single slot to add external storage. That is precisely what Xiaomi has thought to create its SIM card that also works as a microSD.
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According to the leaked image, this great Xiaomi dual card will have the typical SIM technology on the one hand (which will be compatible with 5G) and, on the other, storage technology. However, the storage technology we see in this patent is not that of the microSD slots that all manufacturers use today. That means that possibly this dual card can only be used on Xiaomi and Redmi devices.
It is not a new idea and could be too late
Although many had never seen anything like what this Xiaomi patent proposes. Already in 2019, the Ziguang company had presented a card like this. In addition, lately the eSIM (integrated SIM that does not require a card or slot) has been popularized in today’s smartphones. So it is likely that in the future mobile phones do not have any type of slot.
So, in summary, let’s not be surprised if this patent stays as it is (an idea) and we never see in the market a Xiaomi SIM card that also works as a microSD. Everything will depend on the technological trends that the most important manufacturers follow in the coming years, so we will have to wait to see what this patent ends. And you … what do you think? Is it a good idea or is it too late?
What a great idea,as many new mobiles don’t have an SD card slot as they are packed with 128gb or more.
Well, there’s a (in my opinion) very dumb idea!
The industry has already been down the route of portable storage mediums and converged on microSD (remember Sony M2 cards anyone?) – why try and create something that is likely to be propriatary, limiting it’s use and increasing the cost for manufacturers and end users alike?
Given that at some point, we’ll probably be ditching the traditional SIM card and switching to eSIM anyway, why not just give us the damn microSD card slot?
They’re cheap, reliable and can be pretty damn fast these days. I struggle to believe the majority of people would realistically need anything higher than V30 spec (approx. 90 MB/s sequential write speed and 170 MB/s sequential read) so most media, apps etc would be happy there.
That’s easily good enough for 4k recording in real time.
For apps (games? video editing?) that need faster speeds, there’s still V60 or V90 (approx. 250 MB/s sequential write speed and 300 MB/s sequential read) spec above that… or those apps can sit in the phones built in storage.
Also, they can be used in other devices, hell, I can slot one directly into my laptop to transfer files.
This “idea” of a new hybrid SIM/storage device makes no sense to me, at all!
I think this idea might have been worth considering if it happened a couple of years ago. Still, it would require buy-in from both the mobile phone carriers and other phone vendors to be worth while. These days the industry is moving toward eSIM.
I think the better solution would be for manufacturers to implement eSIM on their devices and use the space saved to include a MicroSD slot. MicroSD cards are standard and inexpensive, as well as being something people are familiar with.
Why not emmc or some form of UFS to keep it current?
Duh.. its just a sandwiched microsd and sim. It’s only used for xiaomi phones where hybrid slot is used. Means user can only choose sim or microsd. With the sandwich then can use both at the same time.
Bravo xiaomi for creating the problem and then the solution for itself.
nothing to do with space saving. It is only because the handset will set the device on the slowest component. So brands that spend millions in engineer brain cells to make their phones faster and faster, don’t want to see their efforts ruined by cheap SD cards. Xiaomi produces redmi with SD card slots and MI without. It’s only to make sure their phone aren’t slow down by the SD card AND to force you to buy the most expensive model offering more space at a very high price. That’s all. e-sim may be the solution, they still need to give the user the choice to use a SD card or not. It’s not on them to decide how we shall use our phones.