Apple and Samsung are evidently working on an e-Sim standard which will help the mobile phone users do away with the use of plastic Sim card with iPhone 7 leading the movement. They are already in talks with the operators, and are almost bordering on an agreement.
The new standard called the e-Sim or the embedded Sim will be locked within the handset. This will allow the users to easily switch operators without needing a new Sim and therefore, eliminate the need of switching cards between handsets or carriers.
According to Financial Times, the new standard will be soon declared publicly by the GSMA, which represents the mobile operators globally. The report further says that while Apple, Samsung and other carriers would be virtually taking over the retail business from Virgin and Telstra for the mobile phone plans, it will essentially change the way how users subscribe to mobile carriers.
The e-Sim would make it easier for the consumers to register for, and even swap and transfer the plans via their mobile phones directly, rather than visiting the mobile operator to sign up for the plan and receive the SIM card. If the regulators allow, handset manufacturers like Apple could even choose selective plans and carriers to be used on their handsets, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Apple has already taken the initiative in 2014 with the introduction of their "Apple SIM" which enabled the iPad Air 2 users in US and UK to select and register for a wide variety of data plans from their device directly without switching the SIM.
Followed by the finalization of the standard, the first e-Sim handset which will be reportedly the iPhone 7 is anticipated in 2016. In the meantime, as an emergency measure Apple could dispatch its recent models, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus with an Apple SIM.