Apple's keynote showed various people in the wilderness and deserts, and some might be carrying two phones around. Maybe you're one of these people who takes your SIM card out of a depleted battery phone and puts it into another device with a full battery. You might keep a fully charged phone in your glove box or backpack for emergencies. If that's the case, you can deplete the first phone by popping out the SIM card and putting it into the secondary phone, which you don't use often.

This covers the main points of using two phones. There's a conversation happening in the comment section about control state scenarios and conspiratorial theories. Some people are skeptical about information flow, data, and privacy concerns. In one comment, it was mentioned that anyone can easily swap out SIM cards or buy prepaid SIMs and burner phones for cash, which would end mobile autonomy and allow them to control users.

A little tidbit in the comments said that some people want a phone with just a phone number and not associated with their identity. The world of burner phones is unknown in 2022, but it's an interesting idea. Some concerns are philosophical, while others are immediate and related to emerging technology.

The existing technology looks robust because it's been around for so long, and everyone's well-trained in it. However, some startups might come along and say they're going back to the old way of being modular, but that doesn't happen often. You don't see many laptops with removable parts at Starbucks or other places.

The question is whether the right time is now for Apple's new feature, which affects users in the US. It could be a precursor for what's to come in other regions as eSIM adoption goes up. If you hate it, you can always visit Canada and pick up a version with a SIM tray and eSIM capabilities at the same time.

Thank you to Nord for sponsoring this episode. They care about privacy and security, which is why you clicked on this video. Nord is a VPN service that will protect your activities online and unlock content in different regions. It works on all devices, including iOS and Android, and can be installed into your browser or router. With NordVPN, you'll be able to stream high-def content without any lag or buffering, and connect to premium servers in various countries.

Please support NordVPN by going to the link in the description, which has a discount for Unbox Therapy viewers.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enall right so obviously I've heard from a lot of you about this eim situation the death of the SIM card Apple just murdered SIM cards everywhere I wanted to do a bit more of a dive Believe It or Not There are pros and cons to this decision of course I'm talking about the topic of the new iPhones iPhone 14 14 plus 14 pro and 14 pro Max in the US they will not be including a SIM card tray instead they will be exclusively eim now eim has existed on iPhones in the past but it has been alongside a physical SIM card slot so that you could choose between the two uh that's not going to be the case in the US or for us sold iPhones presumably going forward so I started with the comments on Lou later where I was discussing this decision by Apple to adopt eims exclusively and I saw tons of people that were upset about this decision and all kinds of reasons and fears and so forth and I thought to myself it can't be all negative can it well maybe sometimes it can be but I aimed to look for some pros maybe you're not one of these people that will be affected extensively or maybe there's a concern here that will stop you from purchasing this new phone because you just don't want to give up SIM card flexibility or perceived SIM card flexibility that you have at the moment now first let's kick it off with what a SIM card actually is a subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module and an integrated circuit intended to securely store the international mobile subscriber identity number and its related key which are used to identify and authenticate subscribers on mobile telephones devices such as mobile phones and computers you already knew that part it's simply in identified the first SIM cards were the size of credit and bank cards I don't remember them being that big let's really quickly touch on what it takes to add an eim to your iPhone at the moment and then we'll get into the pros and finally the cons many carriers have their own appli a for adding an eim in the US probably they're all going to have to have this with the launch of the new iPhones the other option is using a QR code and then lastly some carriers can send you a notification directly in order to add a new eim to your device now let's talk about the pros Believe It or Not There are some yes you can have multiple accounts on one eim now I know there is a huge demand in some regions for having multiple SIM card trays because some might be more compet when it comes to data others for voice we're talking about work and then personal SIM cards and so forth you can have multiple profiles one single device via eim another possible Pro the fact that if you lose your device the SIM card can't easily be removed for talking about iPhones yes you have things like find my you can remotely disable your device even with the physical Sim as it stands right now but in this case the SIM card is a non removable aspect of the device the other major concern was around e s providers in different countries now this is for people that are actually shopping for iPhones in different countries who are aiming to import an iPhone from the US or for people who travel frequently it turns out yes there are other eim service providers in other countries and yes you can travel using eim so there was a fear from many that it would be impossible to travel with eim only that's not true but there are some downsides that I'm going to talk about in the con section of this video so it's not completely Rosy but yes you can do it and in some cases it can be even more convenient than trying to track down a physical Sim or set up the purchase of a physical SIM for another region in advance of your trip now the next one is mostly theoretical it comes down to the flexibility of your provider and their willingness to make this process easy for you but theoretically it should be easier to switch provider I know you're hearing what I'm saying right now Lou what are you talking about this gives providers so much more control over over me I can't I'm not just popping the thing out hear me out because this is theoretical if you were to switch providers today you would at some point need to acquire a piece of plastic from that next provider that you hope to go to in eim theoretical World call up the next provider that you want to go to they would either send you a notification send you a QR or you would use their app and then you would register that new plan on the device that you already have the reason I'm using the word theoretical is because I do have some feedback from people who actually work in Verizon store stores AT&T stores and so forth and they have many thoughts at least this is via the comment section take it for what it is theoretically now this next one I'm not certain how big of a deal it is but it did come up no need for a SIM tray I suppose you're freeing up a tiny amount of space inside of the device you also are not going to have an opening associated with a SIM tray you will not have to have a gasket in order to keep things like dust and water out of your smartphone uh yeah it's a pro but it's a minor one because the SIM tray really doesn't weigh very much and it really doesn't take up all that much space and you will have an eim component on the board inside the phone non- removable but yes more integration does tend to lead to Slimmer and smaller devices now the last one I have on the pros list has to do with Sim swap scams this is where frauders will aim to get themselves a SIM card after acquiring information about you that gives them enough of an ability to fake your identity to then have a carrier send a physical Sim to them which would then let them hack into your stuff two stage could this happen via eim will there be an eim version of this scam quite possibly time to get into the cons this list isn't necessarily in order of the biggest to smallest cons it's sort of more just as they came to me this next one is big for me specifically because I switch phones incredibly frequently there's probably a few other people here on on YouTube that are going to relate to this and then the general public probably less so but hey you're here on unbox therapy and you're probably a tech Enthusiast so maybe you switch phones more frequently than the average person as well as it stands right now if I want to use an iPhone for 2 days and then switch to something else 2 days later one day later 1 hour later right now the process is very straightforward and obvious pop out the SIM card pop it into another device no contacting the carrier no launching carrier apps no re-registration no no software involved in that process very reliable and consistent now granted I'm not going to be affected by this eim thing immediately because Canadian versions of the upcoming iPhones are going to maintain the SIM tray and it does appear that most regions will still receive an iPhone 14 with a Sim Tri now we talked a little bit in the Pro section about traveling with eim versus physical Sim switching and based on what I was able to find online it does seem that there is still an advantage cost-wise for switching out your sim completely while you're traveling in another region a lot of these eim providers have rates in the neighborhood of like 440 to $50 this can be actually quite a bit more expensive than picking up a local Sim in some cases I mean I used India as an example could be 10 times more money that probably has to do with competitiveness that probably could change over time there's just so much availability of local Sims and travel Sims that of course the cost is going to be lower than the current providers on the eim side of things this next con has to do with the industry in general if you are someone who is not impressed with this eim scenario or if you are someone who travels to Regions where eim isn't widely adopted the likelihood of other manufacturers following suit could be seen as a major con for the time being you could just say okay I'm going to skip the iPhone 14 and go with a different manufacturer for my next smartphone but as we've seen in the past when Apple makes a decision other manufacturers do tend to adopt things that they do now that could have already been in most most seem to agree that this eim thing was going to happen regardless the adoption may be accelerated now this next one is also kind of Niche but it might be something that affects you reseller Marketplace the ability to resell us purchased iPhones and then bring them to other regions for family members and so forth and by the way I I guess I put it in here as a point on resellers but this is anyone who aims to move an iPhone from the US to another region in many cases this is actually just people trying to save some money iPhone cost more in their region because of tariffs and so forth and if they can get one from the US they can end up saving a bunch of money so many try to pick up a new iPhone for themselves or family members when they happen to be traveling in the US well now if they live in a region without very much eim support they obviously are not going to be interested in picking up a us version lacking a SIM tray they're going to have to come to Canada now definitely come to Canada for the experience and then leave with an iPhone with a SIM tray if if need be it's crazy by the way some of the prices on these devices in other regions probably have a video upcoming on that topic but you might be surprised just how much cheaper the iPhone is in the US compared to a lot of other regions once you've done the currency conversion all right the next one might be the biggest I heard about this one a lot Mo seems to think it's the biggest this has to do with your phone malfunctioning if you have any issue with your phone it breaks it won't boot up battery's dead it exploded in the past you could just pop out that physical SIM card and throw it into another device that is not going to be possible in the eim World sure you can get another device get in touch with your carrier open your carrier app register with the new phone but that is not something you really want to think about when you're in a foreign place and your phone breaks down you would love to just pick any phone slap your Sim in and then stay connected and accessible this next one has to do with carrier fear most people are not super trusting of carriers and I mean there's many years of contracts and locking people into things and not really owning your devices and carrier exclusivity is that fear justified in 2022 I don't know maybe I try not to talk to my carrier all that much and I think I like it that way to be honest with you I get it they currently are the ones providing you service so sure why not but it just introduces one more thing where we have to rely on them now for all these micro movements we want to make when we're transitioning from one device to another the carrier fears around locking or possibly activation fees that could be associated with every time you want to switch devices like you're just just going to have to have a slightly more intimate relationship with your carrier this next one has to do with the phone malfunctioning again what if you're abroad and you end up in a scenario where you need to get your phone repaired that can already be a very frustrating and scary experience what you could do in the past is take your sim card out put it into that backup phone you put it into some cheap phone or you just hold on to that SIM card while the repair is taking place when you're in the eim universe and you hand over that device for repair you're kind of handing over everything and losing a little bit of flexibility there on remaining connected if you need to be away from your phone for a period of time now this other one I have to assume is Niche I don't know what you're up to in Apple's keynote they showed all types of people out in the wilderness and deserts and you might be one of these people that carries two phones around you might want to take your sim card out of a phone with a depleted battery and just immediately put it into another device that has a full battery maybe you keep a fully charged phone in your glove box in case of emergency or maybe it's in your backpack because you like to go out on Expeditions well in this case you can deplete the first phone just pop the Sim out put it into the secondary phone which you don't use very frequently all right so that covers the meat when it comes to pros and cons but then there's a whole conversation happening in the comment section of the last video I posted on the subject control State scenario conspiratorial and I'm not aiming to discredit anybody or anything everybody's entitled to their own point of view on matters and honestly a little bit of skepticism in the space is expected when you look back at some of the stuff that's actually been proven about the flow of information data and so forth privacy concerns and things but here's a comment that I decided to pull from the comment section any SIM cards will be used as a surveillance apparatus by electronically registering all your cellular data with physical SIM cards you can easily swap them out not to mention you can buy prepaid SIMs and burner phones for cash this move will end mobile autonomy and allow them to control you pretty typical end them you they control this just how it goes Mo a little tidbit in there which I thought was interesting the idea of being able to have a phone which is simply a phone number and not associated with your identity I don't know what the world of burner phones is like in 2022 it's not an area that I've been all that invested in who needs a burner phone and what are they up to anyway right like that's obviously the argument but then also you can call up Edward Snowden if you want some of these concerns are philosophical and enormous others are more immediate have to do with an emerging technology and the existing technology is going to look so much more robust because it's been that way for an extended period of time and everybody's well trained in it and sort of understands it look at this laptop for example how many removable parts are in there and every so often some startup will come along and they'll say we're going back to the old way it's going to be modular we're going to give you more control but then you don't see that adopted you don't walk into a Starbucks and see a thousand modular laptops you see a thousand of these things people keep gravitating towards thinner lighter more integrated and that's without even talking about software and ecosystems and the color of bubbles but the question is whether or not the right time is now whether Apple jumped the gun whether or not we're ready for it and which regions are ready for it at the moment this affects users in the US but it could be precursor for what's to come in other regions as eim adoption goes up anyway this was never a question of if only a question of when just so happens to be happening right now and if you hate it you always have the option to come visit us here in Canada and pick up a version with a SIM tray and eim capabilities at the same time I'll I'll get the maple syrup ready you can come visit my Igloo thank you to Nord for sponsoring this episode you're obviously a person cares about privacy and security because you clicked on this video and you're curious about technology and what technology knows about you or doesn't know about you nor is a VPN service which is going to protect your activities online it's also going to unlock all kinds of content for you in different regions so long as you're connected so long as you have an eim service provider in the region you happen to be traveling to Nord works on all of your devices iOS Android you can install it into your browser you can install it on your router now of course you want all these advantages associated with using a VPN but you might be concerned that there's going to be some sort of performance deficit once you've got a premium VPN like nordvpn you're going to be able to stream all of your uh high def content and so forth your Netflix and such in whatever region you happen to be in and you're not going to experience any lag or buffering you have the ability to connect to premium servers in a whole variety of countries so go ahead and give nordvpn a shot they support this show so please go support them link down in the description there is a discount because you're an unbox therapy viewer so yeah go check them outall right so obviously I've heard from a lot of you about this eim situation the death of the SIM card Apple just murdered SIM cards everywhere I wanted to do a bit more of a dive Believe It or Not There are pros and cons to this decision of course I'm talking about the topic of the new iPhones iPhone 14 14 plus 14 pro and 14 pro Max in the US they will not be including a SIM card tray instead they will be exclusively eim now eim has existed on iPhones in the past but it has been alongside a physical SIM card slot so that you could choose between the two uh that's not going to be the case in the US or for us sold iPhones presumably going forward so I started with the comments on Lou later where I was discussing this decision by Apple to adopt eims exclusively and I saw tons of people that were upset about this decision and all kinds of reasons and fears and so forth and I thought to myself it can't be all negative can it well maybe sometimes it can be but I aimed to look for some pros maybe you're not one of these people that will be affected extensively or maybe there's a concern here that will stop you from purchasing this new phone because you just don't want to give up SIM card flexibility or perceived SIM card flexibility that you have at the moment now first let's kick it off with what a SIM card actually is a subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module and an integrated circuit intended to securely store the international mobile subscriber identity number and its related key which are used to identify and authenticate subscribers on mobile telephones devices such as mobile phones and computers you already knew that part it's simply in identified the first SIM cards were the size of credit and bank cards I don't remember them being that big let's really quickly touch on what it takes to add an eim to your iPhone at the moment and then we'll get into the pros and finally the cons many carriers have their own appli a for adding an eim in the US probably they're all going to have to have this with the launch of the new iPhones the other option is using a QR code and then lastly some carriers can send you a notification directly in order to add a new eim to your device now let's talk about the pros Believe It or Not There are some yes you can have multiple accounts on one eim now I know there is a huge demand in some regions for having multiple SIM card trays because some might be more compet when it comes to data others for voice we're talking about work and then personal SIM cards and so forth you can have multiple profiles one single device via eim another possible Pro the fact that if you lose your device the SIM card can't easily be removed for talking about iPhones yes you have things like find my you can remotely disable your device even with the physical Sim as it stands right now but in this case the SIM card is a non removable aspect of the device the other major concern was around e s providers in different countries now this is for people that are actually shopping for iPhones in different countries who are aiming to import an iPhone from the US or for people who travel frequently it turns out yes there are other eim service providers in other countries and yes you can travel using eim so there was a fear from many that it would be impossible to travel with eim only that's not true but there are some downsides that I'm going to talk about in the con section of this video so it's not completely Rosy but yes you can do it and in some cases it can be even more convenient than trying to track down a physical Sim or set up the purchase of a physical SIM for another region in advance of your trip now the next one is mostly theoretical it comes down to the flexibility of your provider and their willingness to make this process easy for you but theoretically it should be easier to switch provider I know you're hearing what I'm saying right now Lou what are you talking about this gives providers so much more control over over me I can't I'm not just popping the thing out hear me out because this is theoretical if you were to switch providers today you would at some point need to acquire a piece of plastic from that next provider that you hope to go to in eim theoretical World call up the next provider that you want to go to they would either send you a notification send you a QR or you would use their app and then you would register that new plan on the device that you already have the reason I'm using the word theoretical is because I do have some feedback from people who actually work in Verizon store stores AT&T stores and so forth and they have many thoughts at least this is via the comment section take it for what it is theoretically now this next one I'm not certain how big of a deal it is but it did come up no need for a SIM tray I suppose you're freeing up a tiny amount of space inside of the device you also are not going to have an opening associated with a SIM tray you will not have to have a gasket in order to keep things like dust and water out of your smartphone uh yeah it's a pro but it's a minor one because the SIM tray really doesn't weigh very much and it really doesn't take up all that much space and you will have an eim component on the board inside the phone non- removable but yes more integration does tend to lead to Slimmer and smaller devices now the last one I have on the pros list has to do with Sim swap scams this is where frauders will aim to get themselves a SIM card after acquiring information about you that gives them enough of an ability to fake your identity to then have a carrier send a physical Sim to them which would then let them hack into your stuff two stage could this happen via eim will there be an eim version of this scam quite possibly time to get into the cons this list isn't necessarily in order of the biggest to smallest cons it's sort of more just as they came to me this next one is big for me specifically because I switch phones incredibly frequently there's probably a few other people here on on YouTube that are going to relate to this and then the general public probably less so but hey you're here on unbox therapy and you're probably a tech Enthusiast so maybe you switch phones more frequently than the average person as well as it stands right now if I want to use an iPhone for 2 days and then switch to something else 2 days later one day later 1 hour later right now the process is very straightforward and obvious pop out the SIM card pop it into another device no contacting the carrier no launching carrier apps no re-registration no no software involved in that process very reliable and consistent now granted I'm not going to be affected by this eim thing immediately because Canadian versions of the upcoming iPhones are going to maintain the SIM tray and it does appear that most regions will still receive an iPhone 14 with a Sim Tri now we talked a little bit in the Pro section about traveling with eim versus physical Sim switching and based on what I was able to find online it does seem that there is still an advantage cost-wise for switching out your sim completely while you're traveling in another region a lot of these eim providers have rates in the neighborhood of like 440 to $50 this can be actually quite a bit more expensive than picking up a local Sim in some cases I mean I used India as an example could be 10 times more money that probably has to do with competitiveness that probably could change over time there's just so much availability of local Sims and travel Sims that of course the cost is going to be lower than the current providers on the eim side of things this next con has to do with the industry in general if you are someone who is not impressed with this eim scenario or if you are someone who travels to Regions where eim isn't widely adopted the likelihood of other manufacturers following suit could be seen as a major con for the time being you could just say okay I'm going to skip the iPhone 14 and go with a different manufacturer for my next smartphone but as we've seen in the past when Apple makes a decision other manufacturers do tend to adopt things that they do now that could have already been in most most seem to agree that this eim thing was going to happen regardless the adoption may be accelerated now this next one is also kind of Niche but it might be something that affects you reseller Marketplace the ability to resell us purchased iPhones and then bring them to other regions for family members and so forth and by the way I I guess I put it in here as a point on resellers but this is anyone who aims to move an iPhone from the US to another region in many cases this is actually just people trying to save some money iPhone cost more in their region because of tariffs and so forth and if they can get one from the US they can end up saving a bunch of money so many try to pick up a new iPhone for themselves or family members when they happen to be traveling in the US well now if they live in a region without very much eim support they obviously are not going to be interested in picking up a us version lacking a SIM tray they're going to have to come to Canada now definitely come to Canada for the experience and then leave with an iPhone with a SIM tray if if need be it's crazy by the way some of the prices on these devices in other regions probably have a video upcoming on that topic but you might be surprised just how much cheaper the iPhone is in the US compared to a lot of other regions once you've done the currency conversion all right the next one might be the biggest I heard about this one a lot Mo seems to think it's the biggest this has to do with your phone malfunctioning if you have any issue with your phone it breaks it won't boot up battery's dead it exploded in the past you could just pop out that physical SIM card and throw it into another device that is not going to be possible in the eim World sure you can get another device get in touch with your carrier open your carrier app register with the new phone but that is not something you really want to think about when you're in a foreign place and your phone breaks down you would love to just pick any phone slap your Sim in and then stay connected and accessible this next one has to do with carrier fear most people are not super trusting of carriers and I mean there's many years of contracts and locking people into things and not really owning your devices and carrier exclusivity is that fear justified in 2022 I don't know maybe I try not to talk to my carrier all that much and I think I like it that way to be honest with you I get it they currently are the ones providing you service so sure why not but it just introduces one more thing where we have to rely on them now for all these micro movements we want to make when we're transitioning from one device to another the carrier fears around locking or possibly activation fees that could be associated with every time you want to switch devices like you're just just going to have to have a slightly more intimate relationship with your carrier this next one has to do with the phone malfunctioning again what if you're abroad and you end up in a scenario where you need to get your phone repaired that can already be a very frustrating and scary experience what you could do in the past is take your sim card out put it into that backup phone you put it into some cheap phone or you just hold on to that SIM card while the repair is taking place when you're in the eim universe and you hand over that device for repair you're kind of handing over everything and losing a little bit of flexibility there on remaining connected if you need to be away from your phone for a period of time now this other one I have to assume is Niche I don't know what you're up to in Apple's keynote they showed all types of people out in the wilderness and deserts and you might be one of these people that carries two phones around you might want to take your sim card out of a phone with a depleted battery and just immediately put it into another device that has a full battery maybe you keep a fully charged phone in your glove box in case of emergency or maybe it's in your backpack because you like to go out on Expeditions well in this case you can deplete the first phone just pop the Sim out put it into the secondary phone which you don't use very frequently all right so that covers the meat when it comes to pros and cons but then there's a whole conversation happening in the comment section of the last video I posted on the subject control State scenario conspiratorial and I'm not aiming to discredit anybody or anything everybody's entitled to their own point of view on matters and honestly a little bit of skepticism in the space is expected when you look back at some of the stuff that's actually been proven about the flow of information data and so forth privacy concerns and things but here's a comment that I decided to pull from the comment section any SIM cards will be used as a surveillance apparatus by electronically registering all your cellular data with physical SIM cards you can easily swap them out not to mention you can buy prepaid SIMs and burner phones for cash this move will end mobile autonomy and allow them to control you pretty typical end them you they control this just how it goes Mo a little tidbit in there which I thought was interesting the idea of being able to have a phone which is simply a phone number and not associated with your identity I don't know what the world of burner phones is like in 2022 it's not an area that I've been all that invested in who needs a burner phone and what are they up to anyway right like that's obviously the argument but then also you can call up Edward Snowden if you want some of these concerns are philosophical and enormous others are more immediate have to do with an emerging technology and the existing technology is going to look so much more robust because it's been that way for an extended period of time and everybody's well trained in it and sort of understands it look at this laptop for example how many removable parts are in there and every so often some startup will come along and they'll say we're going back to the old way it's going to be modular we're going to give you more control but then you don't see that adopted you don't walk into a Starbucks and see a thousand modular laptops you see a thousand of these things people keep gravitating towards thinner lighter more integrated and that's without even talking about software and ecosystems and the color of bubbles but the question is whether or not the right time is now whether Apple jumped the gun whether or not we're ready for it and which regions are ready for it at the moment this affects users in the US but it could be precursor for what's to come in other regions as eim adoption goes up anyway this was never a question of if only a question of when just so happens to be happening right now and if you hate it you always have the option to come visit us here in Canada and pick up a version with a SIM tray and eim capabilities at the same time I'll I'll get the maple syrup ready you can come visit my Igloo thank you to Nord for sponsoring this episode you're obviously a person cares about privacy and security because you clicked on this video and you're curious about technology and what technology knows about you or doesn't know about you nor is a VPN service which is going to protect your activities online it's also going to unlock all kinds of content for you in different regions so long as you're connected so long as you have an eim service provider in the region you happen to be traveling to Nord works on all of your devices iOS Android you can install it into your browser you can install it on your router now of course you want all these advantages associated with using a VPN but you might be concerned that there's going to be some sort of performance deficit once you've got a premium VPN like nordvpn you're going to be able to stream all of your uh high def content and so forth your Netflix and such in whatever region you happen to be in and you're not going to experience any lag or buffering you have the ability to connect to premium servers in a whole variety of countries so go ahead and give nordvpn a shot they support this show so please go support them link down in the description there is a discount because you're an unbox therapy viewer so yeah go check them out\n"