Trying to figure out how at the software and hardware level eSIMs work in a cellphone.
In: Engineering
A SIM card just authenticates you on the network, kind of like a password, except it’s stored on a little chip. eSIM just stores this password (chip) on your phone directly.
When you go to a carrier, they give you a SIM card registered to their network, but if you have a eSIM, you can transfer it between carriers so you tell them “this is my eSIM please use this to authenticate me” and they register your eSIM instead of giving you a physical SIM.
Nowadays you don’t even need to go to a carrier to activate an eSIM, you can just download an app which registers your eSIM with their mobile plan.
The technology is the same otherwise, it’s like a little SIM chip but built inside your phone. The main difference is that eSIM isn’t removable, so it’s designed to be transferable between carriers, while SIM is removable, but if you switch carriers you need a new one.
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