There has been talk for a long time about the eSIM, the virtual SIM card that would make us no longer have to have a card to install in a smartphone. However, it seems that this will not be definitively established until 2019.
Without eSIM until 2019
Although there was already talk last year that a smartphone of the highest level, such as the iPhone 7, had the eSIM, the truth is that it was not like that. The eSIM would arrive so that we would have to forget about having to install a SIM card in the mobile when we bought it. Smartphones would have a chip that would act as a virtual SIM and we would only have to log into our corresponding operator account to be able to use the smartphone. The technology is already available, and the Samsung Gear S3, for example, already has this eSIM. However, mobiles still do not have such technology.
In fact, according to an analysis, it will not be until 2019 when this technology will begin to arrive integrated in the best-selling smartphones. It is believed that a smartphone with the virtual SIM card could arrive next year, but it would not be any of the smartphones of the main manufacturers on the market.
Apple, Samsung and Huawei are the ones who decide
The key for eSIM to finally reach the smartphone market will depend on the three main manufacturers. According to the analysis, when one of the three launches a large smartphone with the eSIM, the rest of the large manufacturers will also do so. And then all the other less relevant manufacturers. Thus, whether Apple, Samsung, or Huawei, the one that launches a flagship with said virtual card, then the other two manufacturers will also launch it. For a long time we have believed that it would be Apple, who never liked having to integrate a tray for the SIM card in the smartphone. But they have not installed the eSIM on their mobile in recent years either.
Thus, any of the three could be the first of the large manufacturers to install the eSIM. But even so, until 2019 we will continue without this virtual SIM card. And that despite the fact that the technology seems to be ready since last year.
