At the end of last December, @dylandkt, one of the leakers currently recognized in the rumor mill of Apple, assured that those from Cupertino were preparing to remove the SIM card from the iPhone. However, the doubt remained as to whether we would see this movement in the iPhone 14 or in a later generation. Today we have more information about it.
According to analyst Emma Mohr-McClune of GlobalData, Apple will bet on the disappearance of the SIM card in the iPhone 14. However, it would not be a forced move, as the company would offer models with and without SIM slot. This decision is due, of course, to the fact that not all operators in the world have made the leap to eSIM, a character that Apple has already adopted since 2018 with the iPhone XS.
“We don’t think Apple is taking the ‘big bang’ approach of getting rid of existing systems and moving all users to eSIM, but rather will launch a variant of its next model [iPhone 14] only with eSIM, keeping the model with SIM slot and eSIM for the mass market,” the analyst said in statements to AppleInsider.
The iPhone 14 would take the first step to abandon the SIM card
If Apple really plans to get rid of the SIM card completely, it is most convenient that this migration, at first, be optional. Once all carriers — or the vast majority — embrace eSIM, it will be time to move on from the physical card.
Why does the company want to remove the SIM card? Its slot, like any other component, takes up internal space. Removing it could allow Apple to take advantage of free space, for example, to integrate a larger capacity battery. Now, if some models of the iPhone 14 do without the slot, it will be interesting to see if some features differ from the version with a SIM card.
The iPhone 14 will arrive between September and October, assuming that Apple follows the same schedule as in previous years. It is rumored that this generation will introduce a redesign with the glass placed above a new titanium alloy frame -the latter only in the Pro versions-. Does it sound familiar to you? Yes, it would be a design similar to that of the iPhone 4. On the other hand, all models would integrate a 120Hz refresh rate screen and 6GB RAM.