According to information from Challenges, Apple is ready to launch the iPhone 15 in 100% eSIM. According to a source contacted by Frandroid, this would not necessarily be the case.
Article updated on September 12, 2023 at 5:34 p.m
According to a source contacted by Frandroid, the iPhone with 100% eSIM would not be immediately available in France, at least “not exclusively”. It’s plausible that Apple would opt for a two-version solution for each model, with on the one hand selling iPhones only with eSIM and on the other hand versions that would retain the good old SIM drawer. One thing is certain: we will have the answer very soon. This would make it possible to go easy on operators while offering 100% eSIM iPhones, as Apple wants.
Original article published on September 12, 2023 at 3:15 p.m
Imagine: a smartphone without a SIM tray. Better yet, an iPhone, one of the most popular smartphone models in the world, without the small gap for your SIM card. Already a reality in the US since the iPhone 14 switched to 100% eSIM, Apple is about to announce the same treatment for the iPhone 15, but in France.
The question has been unresolved for several months, but the newspaper Challenges assumes a few hours before the conference that Apple had made a decision. Or rather, that Apple, which wanted to make this change last year, finally made the French operators give in.
“Trench warfare”
“When it wanted to offer eSIMs, there was a turf war between French operators and Apple,” Jacques Assaraf, director of telecoms at Capgemini, told the publication. And Challenges writes: “The big four, Bouygues, Orange, SFR and Free, gave up in the end. »
The reason for this reluctance is simple: In contrast to the SIM card, the eSIM is integrated directly into the user’s smartphone. All that’s missing is a QR code for activation. Therefore, Apple has enormous power over operators and strong negotiating ability.
We can speculate even further and imagine that tomorrow Apple teams up with an operator and offers to sign up with them directly: for example, billing Apple to use the MVNO-style Orange network. This is just speculation on our part for now, but the fear of operators shows this clearly. Remember that most virtual operators or MVNOs do not offer eSIM. In other words, the iPhone 15 could be reserved for a few operators in France.
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