Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., are reportedly holding talks on how to standardize and implement embedded SIM cards in future smartphones.

According to The Financial Times, the two smartphone giants are close to announcing an agreement to produce a standardised embedded Sim for consumer devices that would include the smartphone makers.

Numerous major global phone carriers are also reportedly involved in the talks, including AT&T Inc., Deutsche Telekom AG, EE Limited and Vodafone Group plc. The Financial Times says that while traditional SIM cards are effectively locked to one network (or carrier), embedded SIMs would allow smartphone users to avoid locking themselves into a plan with a single operator. It says users would be able to use the new SIM cards to set up a new device, switch carriers, or upgrade their device without needing to switch out or transfer the SIM card. Meanwhile, carriers would be able to quickly transfer customers to their networks, and hardware makers would no longer be required to make the SIM cards removable, freeing up valuable real estate on the phone’s motherboard that could be used for other purposes.

Anyone who’s witnessed a recent teardown of a smartphone motherboard will appreciate the removable SIM card tray takes up a huge amount of space in the device. Get rid of those trays and companies like Apple will have more room to make their phones meaningfully smaller, thinner, lighter, or simply give them more battery life.

No doubt, this is Apple’s intention. The company has fixed a growing number of hardware components directly into the casing of its newer iPhones to save on space and costs. Indeed, the company has already stated its intention to do away with removable SIM cards, having equipped last year’s iPad Air and iPad Mini models with a soft SIM card that could switch between carriers.

Bad for consumers?

While phone makers claim embedded SIM cards will be beneficial for consumers, the close involvement of the carriers gives us reason to be worried too. Proponents of embedded SIMs insist it will be easy as pie to switch between different carriers, but this doesn’t change the fact they would take control of which SIM to use away from users and give it to carriers instead. The big worry is that carriers may try and exploit this feature for their own interests, for example by charging fees before customers can switch to a new network.

One obvious problem of doing away with removable SIMs is that smartphone users who travel abroad may well find themselves forced to use the expensive international roaming service, or buy an entirely new phone, instead of simply buying a local SIM card like they could do before.

From a technical/hardware point of view, embedded SIMs are probably a good idea. They are an excellent way to get cheaper roaming or a local number, in theory. But in the real world it seems likely the carriers will try to use it to their advantage. The danger is that as soon as it’s up to a carrier to allow you to effectively use a new (embedded) SIM, you’ll be locked in, or held to ransom via contracts, red tape and generally unhelpful helpcentre staff.

A little cynical perhaps, but a certain amount of pessimism is usually a healthy thing. And with the only real advantage for consumers being that we “won’t have to swap out our old SIM cards anymore” (a process that takes seconds), is it really worth it given that we’ll just have to “trust” our phone carriers not to rip us off?

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