Five years later, is eSIM finally ready to take on the world?

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Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

Smartphone technology follows an odd dichotomy. On the one hand, you’ve got bleeding-edge imaging credentials powering some of the best camera phones, more power than you can shake a stick at, and incredible fast-charging advancements. On the other hand, there are SIM card slots. It’s been five years since the advent of the eSIM card on smartphones, and yet the computer in our pockets is still tied down to a plastic tab that hasn’t changed all that much since its debut in 1991. What gives?

Has the eSIM standard finally caught up with the old-school SIM? Why aren’t we all living in a post-SIM card world? Let’s take a closer look at the current state of eSIM adoption.