Vodafone, Qualcomm and Thales have just joined forces to test a new type of SIM card. Directly integrated into the processor, the iSIM will save space and make it possible to connect many new devices to the mobile network which have until now only depended on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
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The eSIM is dead, long live the iSIM! The manufacturer of mobile processors Qualcomm has just announced that it has created, in partnership with Vodafone and Thales, the very first smartphone equipped with iSIM technology. This new technology integrates the functions of a SIM card directly into the SoC.
The smartphone in question is a modified version of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G, featuring the Snapdragon 888 SoC which incorporates a Qualcomm Secure Processing Unit endowed with operating system Thales iSIM. This announcement can lead to confusion because the eSIM already makes it possible to dematerialize the SIM card. In reality, it is an evolution of this technology. Where eSIM requires a separate chip on the motherboard of the mobile, the iSIM functionality is integrated within the processor, without additional component.
The iSIM will use the eSIM infrastructure
This new technology will be based on the existing eSIM infrastructure, and will therefore be functional immediately on a large number of mobile networks. In a smartphone where every square millimeter counts, the iSIM will free up space, or even do without conventional SIM cards entirely. However, Qualcomm is not just targeting mobile phones.
With such integration, this technology could connect many additional devices to the mobile network. This includes the computers laptops, the virtual reality headsets, as well as watches and connected wristbands. Builders are also targeting theInternet Industrial Objects (IIOT). The first ones smartphones equipped with iSIM should quickly arrive on the market since, on its site, Thales expects 76 million devices sold in 2022, all types combined.
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