Only with eSIM: iPhone Air worries European mobile network operators
Smartphones without a SIM card slot give manufacturers like Apple a position of power, mobile phone providers fear behind closed doors.
iPhone Air: 1 camera, 0 space for SIM cards.
(Image: heise medien)
With the iPhone Air, Apple has presented customers and mobile phone providers with a fait accompli: The new model series is only available worldwide with a permanently integrated eSIM; there is no slot for inserting a classic SIM card. European network operators are worried about this long-awaited change.
The major platform operators Apple and Google are now in a position to simply allow their customers to "choose their mobile phone tariff directly on the device at any time", Le Monde quotes the manager of a French mobile phone provider as saying. The network operators fear that they will lose customer loyalty as a result and will no longer be able to sell them additional offers and services.
Network operators see themselves weakened
Exclusive deals between smartphone manufacturers and individual major mobile network providers are also conceivable to prioritise certain eSIM tariffs on the device, fears the unnamed manager – and hopes that European competition authorities will intervene in this case. There are talks with the manufacturers to avoid "this kind of war", another manager from the large French telecommunications company Orange told the newspaper – "We will make sure that they don't get in our way".
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Apple is phasing out the SIM card slot: The iPhone Air is the first device worldwide that now relies purely on the eSIM. The rest of the iPhone 17 series still has a SIM card slot in many markets, including Europe – in addition to the integrated eSIM. In the USA and certain other countries, however, the iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max are also only available with an eSIM –, as does Google's Pixel 10 series. Apple uses the additional space to accommodate a larger battery, for example. The SIM slot is also missing in new iPads.
Competitor authorities already informed
At the beginning of the year, two British mobile phone providers had already contacted the local competition authority: Pure eSIM smartphones enable the smartphone giants to extend their supremacy in the mobile phone market, they said at the time. The regulators were asked to examine whether this position of power would lead to advantages. The network operators also cited "disintermediation" by the manufacturers as a risk here and ultimately a loss of customer loyalty.
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