Android 13 will hasten the end of SIM cards. With the future update, Google will finally allow Android smartphones to connect to two different networks through an integrated eSIM card. This innovation should accelerate the abandonment of SIM drawers.
Several months before its deployment in final version, Android 13 continues to reveal all its secrets. By analyzing the code of the latest beta intended for developers, Mishaal Rahman, Android expert from the blog Esper, discovered a new feature that should allow Google to accelerate the abandonment of the SIM card on our smartphones.
According to him, the Mountain View giant has found a way to improve the functioning of eSIM, the technology that promises to replace physical SIM cards. For those who do not know, the eSIM can replace traditional SIM cards by getting rid of the famous drawer. This innovation allows manufacturers to save space when designing their devices.
Already integrated on several smartphones on the market, the eSIM is struggling to establish itself in the mobile telephony sector. Compared to the traditional SIM card, the eSIM suffers from several shortcomings. For example, the integrated card technology does not allow simultaneous connection to two different operators. Above all, the eSIM is not compatible with dual-SIM functionality. To connect to two different plans, it would be necessary to integrate two SIM cards, which requires a lot of space.
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Android 13 will accelerate the abandonment of SIM cards in favor of eSim
According to Mishaal Rahman, Google teams managed to circumvent these limitations by developing “several activated profiles ”. These different profiles will make it possible to activate several SIM profiles on a single eSIM. Concretely, it will be possible to connect to different packages offered by different telecommunications operators through a single integrated card.
“A single eSIM item can connect to two different carriers at the same time, eliminating the need to have two eSIMs or one eSIM plus a nano SIM card in order to have dual SIM functionality,” explains Mishaal Rahman.
Apparently, Google patented this technology in the course of 2020. After months of development, the American group is finally ready to add the solution to smartphones with Android 13. Indeed, there are “multiple references to this technology in AOSP”, the open-source version of Android, specifies the expert. Additionally, Google has been testing the solution on Pixel devices for the past few months.
Note that Apple already allows iPhone 13 to use two eSIMs for two or more mobile plans. Under these conditions, it is rumored that Apple plans to definitively abandon the SIM drawer in the years to come. With the addition of this feature to Android 13, the future of traditional SIM cards seems to be getting shorter.
