Apple to enable new iPhone eSIMs via software update, iPhone XS boasts faster wireless cha...

AppleInsider

With the big announcements out of the way, we take a closer look at a couple of less-prominent features coming to the iPhone XS -- dual SIM support and faster wireless charging.

Dual SIM

Apple touted the iPhone XS' ability to support dual SIM cards during its announcement event, sharing a few details in passing.

First, the solution will require one SIM card slot, with users inserting a physical SIM that is to be accompanied by Apple's eSIM technology. The company currently uses eSIM tech in both the iPad and the Apple Watch, and is bringing it to iPhone for the first time.

As predicted by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone XS supports Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS), wherein the phone automatically activates a particular SIM card as a call comes in. The active line will even be denoted below in the incoming number. DSDS technology provides a number of benefits to end users, the most obvious being the ability to travel across borders or coverage zones without swapping SIM cards.

Users in China will have to use two physical SIM cards -- one inserted on each side of iPhone's SIM card slot -- as Apple does not have approval to launch its eSIM in the country.

Unfortunately for those looking forward to the dual SIM capabilities, a small footnote on Apple's site reveals eSIM functionality will be disabled at launch. The company says it will activate the feature through a future iOS 12 software update, but fails to provide a specific timeline for release.

Wireless charging

On an unrelated note, the new iPhone XS and XS Max will be capable of charging at faster rates than iPhone X when paired with compatible wireless chargers. The exact increase in power is still unknown, but could likely be 9W or 10W, both of which are common output levels for Qi chargers.

Apple didn't mention the speed increase -- or wireless charging at all -- on stage during the event, likely due to what is presumes to be problems getting its AirPower mat to market. The device, which was announced at last year's iPhone event, but has yet to see release, was completely scrubbed from Apple's website post-event.

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xmhillx

Could it not be the fault of the FCC? Apple’s website, before AirPower was scrubbed, noted that AirPower was still awaiting FCC approval. 

I’m not an FCC expert nor product release expert, but not many people seem to mention the lack of FCC approval. 

retrogusto

Dual SIM support seems like a pretty big improvement, since it means I won’t have to carry around 2 iPhones when I travel. I dare say it’s more useful than Animoji, studio lighting or even wireless charging, at least for me. 

Soli

retrogusto said:

Dual SIM support seems like a pretty big improvement, since it means I won’t have to carry around 2 iPhones when I travel. I dare say it’s more useful than Animoji, studio lighting or even wireless charging, at least for me. 

1) I know people that have two iPhones or an iPhone and Android phone because one is used for work and one is personal. It's not ideal to carry two devices so if a company will able to save money by allowing an employee to carry just one device where two numbers are active that will probably be popular.

2) Now that eSIMs are a go and DSDS will be a go with a future iOS 12 update I hope that it won't be too long before we have the ability to store multiple eSIMs in the Secure Element that we can switch at will or have it auto-switch (should be choose) when we cross country borders and we connect to different cell towers. I'd even like the ability to use a QR Code and/or NFC to transfer eSIM data to another device (after you authenticate with your device passcode, of course).

mattinoz

So one of the key features doesn't work at launch! Wait 2 if you include group facetime.

2018 really is a poor year for Apple. They need to get out of the gate early in 2019. 

StrangeDays

mattinoz said:

So one of the key features doesn't work at launch! Wait 2 if you include group facetime.

2018 really is a poor year for Apple. They need to get out of the gate early in 2019. 

Nonsense. Group facetime isn’t a key feature nor was it hyped for launch. It was announced at WWDC as part of iOS 12, which includes point releases, and I have no reason to believe it won’t arrive. 

The X was an insane seller in 2018, AW3 did great, and now there are even better versions released in 2018, and they reached a record market cap — so no idea what you’re talking about with it being a poor year. It wasn’t for customers, and it wasn’t for Apple nor its investors.  

Bad year for analysts, pundits, haters and trolls, tho. Is that what you meant?

plovell

I wonder if Apple has an iron-clad commitment from AT&T that it will NOT lock the eSIM if ever used on AT&T. That was the problem with the "Apple SIM" in the iPad but at least you could remove and replace it. With eSIM that's not possible. I think Apple needs to make a statement regarding the ability, or otherwise, of a carrier to lock an eSIM.

mattinoz

StrangeDays said:

mattinoz said:

So one of the key features doesn't work at launch! Wait 2 if you include group facetime.

2018 really is a poor year for Apple. They need to get out of the gate early in 2019. 

Nonsense. Group facetime isn’t a key feature nor was it hyped for launch. It was announced at WWDC as part of iOS 12, which includes point releases, and I have no reason to believe it won’t arrive. 

The X was an insane seller in 2018, AW3 did great, and now there are even better versions released in 2018, and they reached a record market cap — so no idea what you’re talking about with it being a poor year. It wasn’t for customers, and it wasn’t for Apple nor its investors.  

Bad year for analysts, pundits, haters and trolls, tho. Is that what you meant?

Apple's own 118 seconds wrap up of the event gives group facetime many seconds. To me that is them saying it's a key feature. 

Still for 2018, only one Mac line updated, iPhones are following where others lead in to bigger and bigger screens. Will agree the watch is however stellar and the real standout.  Sure stock price is great and new customers are buying. Older bullish Apple customers seem (purely personally opinion) disgruntled with a stalled product range.

It's always a "bad year" for analysts and haters execpt their aim is probably more minor moves in stock price.

Still .... and I'm normally pretty bullish on Apple, but this year feels like a stubble.

vmarks

plovell said:

I wonder if Apple has an iron-clad commitment from AT&T that it will NOT lock the eSIM if ever used on AT&T. That was the problem with the "Apple SIM" in the iPad but at least you could remove and replace it. With eSIM that's not possible. I think Apple needs to make a statement regarding the ability, or otherwise, of a carrier to lock an eSIM.

Sprint, not AT&T, was the carrier that locked the Apple SIM to itself once selected. AT&T is bad, but Sprint is worse about unlocking anything.

avon b7

StrangeDays said:

mattinoz said:

So one of the key features doesn't work at launch! Wait 2 if you include group facetime.

2018 really is a poor year for Apple. They need to get out of the gate early in 2019. 

Nonsense. Group facetime isn’t a key feature nor was it hyped for launch. It was announced at WWDC as part of iOS 12, which includes point releases, and I have no reason to believe it won’t arrive. 

The X was an insane seller in 2018, AW3 did great, and now there are even better versions released in 2018, and they reached a record market cap — so no idea what you’re talking about with it being a poor year. It wasn’t for customers, and it wasn’t for Apple nor its investors.  

Bad year for analysts, pundits, haters and trolls, tho. Is that what you meant?

If a feature is given airtime during a presentation it is not unreasonable to consider it s key feature. That's the reason it was given a billing in the first place.

It is not unreasonable either (completely logical in fact) to assume that something announced as coming in iOS12 will be there on launch, not months later with a point release.

Why not do that with everything announced feature for iOS 12 and use the time to squash bugs? After all, 'coming in iOS 12' doesn't have to mean 12.0, right? We would have no complaints.

No. That is nonsense.. It is perfectly reasonable to want things at release, especially things that were highlights of the release as revealed at the presentation.

As for the X being an insane seller, I would say that selling less from one quarter to the next and having Gartner claim that demand slackened off far more quickly than for any other major Apple flagship, doesn't make it an insane seller. Especially as by all accounts so far, unit sales remain basically flat. Nothing insane to be seen.

ivanh

Dual physical SIM iPhone XS Max is made for China and Hong Kong. Two physical SIMs will stick their plastic backs together in one SIM card slot. 
Many other “special” features and thus hardware to comply with the laws of China, so that the Communist Party can real time monitor every piece of data in communication? Worrying. 

tmay

avon b7 said:

StrangeDays said:

mattinoz said:

So one of the key features doesn't work at launch! Wait 2 if you include group facetime.

2018 really is a poor year for Apple. They need to get out of the gate early in 2019. 

Nonsense. Group facetime isn’t a key feature nor was it hyped for launch. It was announced at WWDC as part of iOS 12, which includes point releases, and I have no reason to believe it won’t arrive. 

The X was an insane seller in 2018, AW3 did great, and now there are even better versions released in 2018, and they reached a record market cap — so no idea what you’re talking about with it being a poor year. It wasn’t for customers, and it wasn’t for Apple nor its investors.  

Bad year for analysts, pundits, haters and trolls, tho. Is that what you meant?

If a feature is given airtime during a presentation it is not unreasonable to consider it s key feature. That's the reason it was given a billing in the first place.

It is not unreasonable either (completely logical in fact) to assume that something announced as coming in iOS12 will be there on launch, not months later with a point release.

Why not do that with everything announced feature for iOS 12 and use the time to squash bugs? After all, 'coming in iOS 12' doesn't have to mean 12.0, right? We would have no complaints.

No. That is nonsense.. It is perfectly reasonable to want things at release, especially things that were highlights of the release as revealed at the presentation.

As for the X being an insane seller, I would say that selling less from one quarter to the next and having Gartner claim that demand slackened off far more quickly than for any other major Apple flagship, doesn't make it an insane seller. Especially as by all accounts so far, unit sales remain basically flat. Nothing insane to be seen.

Oh, you again. No one could possibly imagine your tired tropes returning to AI.

Did you watch yesterday's Apple event? Wasn't that Apple Watch Series 4 announcement spectacular? Just left every other wearable in the dust.

Oh, by the way, Apple's X was the best selling model smartphone in the world, that is undisputed, so I'm not sure I would put much weight in Gartner, especially since Apple is really, really, throwing it's future behind the X models.

Apple's unit sales, on a yearly basis, continue to place them as number two in the smartphone industry, but, maybe 2019 will be Huawei's year to pass them. My educated guess is that Apple is going to sell a whole lot of iPhone X models this next quarter, and looks to have doubled down on a high ASP, which I know you abhor.

I wonder how well Huawei will do in a zero sum smartphone market taking share from Samsung, since they aren't taking any from Apple.

redgeminipa

vmarks said:

plovell said:

I wonder if Apple has an iron-clad commitment from AT&T that it will NOT lock the eSIM if ever used on AT&T. That was the problem with the "Apple SIM" in the iPad but at least you could remove and replace it. With eSIM that's not possible. I think Apple needs to make a statement regarding the ability, or otherwise, of a carrier to lock an eSIM.

Sprint, not AT&T, was the carrier that locked the Apple SIM to itself once selected. AT&T is bad, but Sprint is worse about unlocking anything.

My iPad Pro that I bought through Sprint was unlocked, both eSIM and SIM card slot, even while it was still financed. 

GeorgeBMac

Soli said:

retrogusto said:

Dual SIM support seems like a pretty big improvement, since it means I won’t have to carry around 2 iPhones when I travel. I dare say it’s more useful than Animoji, studio lighting or even wireless charging, at least for me. 

1) I know people that have two iPhones or an iPhone and Android phone because one is used for work and one is personal. It's not ideal to carry two devices so if a company will able to save money by allowing an employee to carry just one device where two numbers are active that will probably be popular.

2) Now that eSIMs are a go and DSDS will be a go with a future iOS 12 update I hope that it won't be too long before we have the ability to store multiple eSIMs in the Secure Element that we can switch at will or have it auto-switch (should be choose) when we cross country borders and we connect to different cell towers. I'd even like the ability to use a QR Code and/or NFC to transfer eSIM data to another device (after you authenticate with your device passcode, of course).

I am thinking that the dual SIM may actually have a bigger impact than the "work vs personal" phone thing or the jet-setter traveling around the world:

Namely, Replacing land lines.   I keep a land line simply to take junk calls.   It's the number I give out when I sign up for something and they ask for a phone number.   All the calls just go to voicemail and I listen to them when I have time without being bothered in the middle of something.   Only friends and close associates get my cell number.   So, by upgrading to a 2 line "family plan" I could scrap my $15/month landline.

Also, the problem with combining the work phone and personal phone is that, in my experience, many employers lock down a smart phone used for company business.   I won't let them do that to MY phone.  If they want to do it, let them buy me their own phone that they can lock down anyway they want.

hammeroftruth

Soli said:

retrogusto said:

Dual SIM support seems like a pretty big improvement, since it means I won’t have to carry around 2 iPhones when I travel. I dare say it’s more useful than Animoji, studio lighting or even wireless charging, at least for me. 

1) I know people that have two iPhones or an iPhone and Android phone because one is used for work and one is personal. It's not ideal to carry two devices so if a company will able to save money by allowing an employee to carry just one device where two numbers are active that will probably be popular.

2) Now that eSIMs are a go and DSDS will be a go with a future iOS 12 update I hope that it won't be too long before we have the ability to store multiple eSIMs in the Secure Element that we can switch at will or have it auto-switch (should be choose) when we cross country borders and we connect to different cell towers. I'd even like the ability to use a QR Code and/or NFC to transfer eSIM data to another device (after you authenticate with your device passcode, of course).

It will be interesting to see how employers will handle dual sim devices with their own confidential info on it and how they will be able to use profiles. Maybe have multiple users on iOS so that you can switch them between work and personal when you need to. 

crowley

StrangeDays said:

Group facetime isn’t a key feature nor was it hyped for launch. It was announced at WWDC as part of iOS 12, which includes point releases, 

Stretching it a bit there mate, if Apple were planning on delivering it at a later date then they would have either not demoed it, or demoed it with that proviso "coming later in 2018 / early 2019 / whenever".  Pushing it back from the initial .0 release is clearly not Plan A. 

That said, while Apple set an expectation, and are probably a bit embarrassed at having to backpedal, it's not a promise, they aren't obliged to deliver Group Facetime at all, no matter how many irate netizens start jumping up and down.

GeorgeBMac

hammeroftruth said:

Soli said:

retrogusto said:

Dual SIM support seems like a pretty big improvement, since it means I won’t have to carry around 2 iPhones when I travel. I dare say it’s more useful than Animoji, studio lighting or even wireless charging, at least for me. 

1) I know people that have two iPhones or an iPhone and Android phone because one is used for work and one is personal. It's not ideal to carry two devices so if a company will able to save money by allowing an employee to carry just one device where two numbers are active that will probably be popular.

2) Now that eSIMs are a go and DSDS will be a go with a future iOS 12 update I hope that it won't be too long before we have the ability to store multiple eSIMs in the Secure Element that we can switch at will or have it auto-switch (should be choose) when we cross country borders and we connect to different cell towers. I'd even like the ability to use a QR Code and/or NFC to transfer eSIM data to another device (after you authenticate with your device passcode, of course).

It will be interesting to see how employers will handle dual sim devices with their own confidential info on it and how they will be able to use profiles. Maybe have multiple users on iOS so that you can switch them between work and personal when you need to. 

My experience is that they don't lock down the SIM.  They lock down the whole phone.

Rockyshane

Why doesn't the dual sim feature trace back to iphone 7 and 8 ....if it is just an esim addition...it should be possible easily...without a hardware upgrade...

Soli

Rockyshane said:

Why doesn't the dual sim feature trace back to iphone 7 and 8 ....if it is just an esim addition...it should be possible easily...without a hardware upgrade…

eSIM requires its own chip.

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