Qualcomm and Thales have presented the iSIM, a new type of SIM integrated directly into the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and which will probably be found in many of the company’s chips. This new standard will allow manufacturers of more compact devices, in telephony as well as in the Internet of Things.
Qualcomm took advantage of Mobile World Congress 2023 to announce the launch of the Integrated SIM, or iSIM. This new evolution of the indispensable SIM card was designed in collaboration with Thalès. It is now enabled on Android smartphones equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. The eSIM is not fully adopted by the general public, but iSIM aims to improve its design and energy efficiencywhile freeing up space inside the chassis of smartphones.
Carriers use the SIM to identify a phone and its owner. In the idea therefore, the card is not required to store subscriber information, but it is the solution chosen and most commonly used since the beginnings of mobile telephony. Although SIM cards are getting ever smaller, the eSIM was a logical evolution of this technology.
Even smaller than the eSIM, the iSIM integrates into Qualcomm’s SoC
The eSIM allows, for example, to change operator without any manipulation, through an update. The time saving is enormous, since the operation is almost instantaneous. That said, the eSIM is not perfect. It does, of course, remove the SIM card and the drawer necessary to insert it, but it must still reside in a chip somewhere on the integrated circuit of the telephone.
The iSIM presented by Qualcomm does not have this problem. It is directly integrated into the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and according to the manufacturer, it occupies an area of less than 1 mm2. That said, this technology isn’t exclusive, and smartphone makers will continue to offer nanoSIM card slots for some time to come. This is beneficial for smartphone users: they can choose between a “classic” SIM card, eSIM or iSIM depending on their needs.
Source: Thales