Samsung’s Gear S2 eSIM ‘Now you can choose your own carrier’

The end of physical SIM cards now finally seems to be getting closer. Only last year we heard of Apple, Samsung and other mobile carriers thinking of finding a way to discard the old physical SIM card. Well, now Samsung has developed an eSIM which is first one to be industry-approved. This SIM is programmable SIM and allows you to switch between different carriers without requiring you to change physical SIMs in your cell phone.

The GSMA has also come up with an “eSIM specification’ for tablets, smartwatches including Samsung Gear S2 Classic 3G. this will be the first device in the market that will be shipped with the eSIM. Well, applaud for Samsung!

Though Samsung eSIM’s is the first one to be approved by industry, it isn’t the first one to implement it. Certain iPads had this functionality. The standard however doesn’t applies to smartphones yet according to GSMA. The eSIM will be launched in June. Even though it can store profiles of multiple carriers, only one profile is supported at a time. Some of the largest hardware manufacturers of the world including LG, Microsoft, Huawei, AT&T and so on are reported to be backing the development.

Ian Pannell, the chief engineer at GSMA told Verge, “We don’t want the consumer to be disadvantaged compared to the current SIM model. We’re putting the first specification out for companies that may want to launch products that are very simple.

Apple is also working on developing its own version of eSIM according to reports.

GSMA seems too excited about the news. Alex Sinclair, GSMA’s CTO said, “This is the only common, interoperable and global specification that has the backing of the mobile industry and lets consumers with a mobile subscription remotely connect their devices to a mobile network. This new specification gives consumers the freedom to remotely connect devices, such as wearables, to a mobile network of their choice and continues to evolve the process of connecting new and innovative devices.”