Xiaomi reinvents the SIM card by integrating data memory
Previously, you had to choose between two SIMs or a memory card. Xiaomi is now working on a SIM card that can also store data.
From Natel-D to Nokia, from the first iPhones to today's smartphones competing with desktop computers: smartphones are constantly evolving. Only one element has never changed: the SIM card. That little piece that assigns a number to your pocket phone and allows you to communicate has remained pretty much the same since 1989.
Xiaomi is to market a SIM card that will also allow data storage.
Source: Xiaomi
A solution for wasted space
The technology is simple and actually quite cleverly solved. Most modern smartphones are equipped with a so-called hybrid SIM slot. As microSD cards have the same form factor as SIM cards, the slot can recognise the SIM card as well as the memory card.
A SIM card, even if it's a micro-SIM, still has room. The latter is now used for data storage. A hybrid slot can therefore theoretically recognise both cards at the same time.
On the practical side, the software has to have been designed for this. According to Gizchina, the industry portal (in German), this will only be possible on Xiaomi and Redmi devices for the time being, as these are manufactured by the inventor himself and are equipped with the software.
The eSIM
There's also eSIM, which completely virtualises the SIM card. But for reasons that remain unknown, it has yet to win over the public. In Switzerland, the three principal mobile phone providers all offer the eSIM option, but don't really advertise it. Shame.
Because if the eSIM concept catches on beyond Apple Watches, then there's nothing standing in the way of phones without physical slots. Vivo designed the Apex, other manufacturers also want to develop their own button-less, slot-less design.
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