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If you bought your new Apple smartphone in the past year or two, you might notice that the SIM tray — a removable mechanism on your smartphone that holds your subscriber identification

module (SIM) card — is missing. SIM chip cards link your phone number and account credentials to your service provider. They’re known for being tricky to remove, usually requiring inserting

a paper clip or other pointy ejector tool into the tiny hole along the edge of the handset. But Apple went all digital with embedded SIMS, dubbed eSIMs, starting on iPhone 14 devices that

debuted in fall 2022. That might signal that physical SIMs in other brands could join a list of near-extinct smartphone features, such as memory cards and user-replaceable batteries. SOME

PHONES HAVE BOTH SIM CARDS, ESIM TECHNOLOGY While the demise of physical SIMs won’t happen right away, many Android phones that have the chip cards support eSIM technology. That includes

Google Pixels starting with 2019’s 4 and Samsung Galaxy S series phones starting with 2020’s S20. iPhone XS and XR models from 2018 also have SIMs but allow eSIMs. Samsung’s less expensive

Galaxy A series didn’t get an eSIM-compatible model until 2024’s Galaxy A55 5G. Also be aware: iPhones sold in mainland China don’t support eSIMs though you can get an eSIM for the iPhone

you bought in the U.S. and want to use in China. Some smartphones support dual SIMs that feature either a single tray for a pair of very small SIM cards — they come in standard, micro and

nano — or technology that permits one physical SIM and one eSIM. The chief benefit is the ability to run two phone lines on the same device, perhaps one line for business and the other for

personal use. ‘eSIMs are a tremendous improvement for those with physical disabilities who will never again have to deal with tiny little SIM cards and those teeny, tiny SIM card ejection

holes.’ — Avi Greengart, Techsponential Most people have rarely or never pulled the SIM card from a cellphone, which may happen only when you get a new phone, switch wireless carriers or

travel internationally. However, it can be irritating, especially if you accidentally drop the SIM card, insert it wrong, or worse, get it stuck in the phone incorrectly. “eSIMs are a

tremendous improvement for those with physical disabilities who will never again have to deal with tiny little SIM cards and those teeny, tiny SIM card ejection holes,” says tech analyst Avi

Greengart of New Jersey-based Techsponential. A nano SIM is about the size of your pinkie fingernail. Jeff Howard, AT&T’s vice president of hardware and partner solutions, agrees. “From

our perspective, we’re looking at it literally as an improvement in customer experience. It does simplify the activation process and allows the control to be right on the device,” he says.

“You don’t have to engage in shipping physical SIM cards. Customers don’t have to identify the appropriate hole on the device to insert the tool.”