Next iPhone to be E-Sim Exclusive? Here's why its a bad idea for Indian Markets.

Apple is planning to get rid of the physical SIM card tray on their next iPhone lineup. This means that there would be no slot to add your physical SIM card in your iPhone from next year. Is this a good thing for Indian Markets? My ideology says no, and here's why:

1. Not many Carriers support E-Sim currently:

Except for Jio, Vi and Airtel, no carriers in India currently support E-Sim. I agree that these are the three major telecom operators in the country, but there are many people who are on other plans and do not tend to port their SIM card. This would lead to less people adopting to the iPhone 14 lineup leading to a bump in sales.

2. People majorly "prefer" physical SIM slots:

According to a report by The Times of India (TOI), the total number of mobile subscribers in India amounted for 1.19 Billion in 2020, out of which, a mere 1.2 Million users adopted to E-Sim. Taking into consideration, Apple shipped 3.2 Million iPhones to India in 2020 (not to include past iPhone users), which was their best year in the country. As you can see, the ratio keeps getting lower and lower which would again, result in bad sales for the next iPhone.

3. E-Sim is still not there...

According to me, E-Sim is still not on the level to adopt to it exclusively. There have been many bugs, errors and network issues regarding E-Sim. This might not be Apple's problem, but it can be a huge mistake to provide no physical slot completely.

Would love to know your take on E-Sim exclusivity in India (or any part of the world).

Article by Nimrat Khalsa.