Apple SIM

Apple SIM is a proprietary subscriber identity module (SIM) produced by Apple Inc. It is included in cellular-enabled versions of its iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4, and iPad Pro tablets in Apple Retail Stores in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The Apple SIM supports wireless services across multiple supported carriers, which can be selected from a user interface within their operating systems, removing the need to install a SIM provided by the carrier itself. While Apple did not acknowledge the feature whilst presenting the iPad models that ship with Apple SIM, promotional materials on its website discuss the feature as being geared toward users of short-term mobile internet contracts across multiple carriers.[1]

Carriers supported by Apple SIM include AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile US, EE, au, GigSky, and AlwaysOnline Wireless. Altogether these carriers provide coverage in 100+ countries. However, activating mobile services on AT&T will permanently lock the Apple SIM to AT&T, requiring the purchase of a new Apple SIM in order to use a different carrier.[2]

The Apple SIM is known as a Removable SIM with Remote Provisioning[3] - it is a special SIM card that may be configured with different operator profiles. This is contrast to an embedded SIM (which is not removable) and may also be remotely provisioned. It appears that Apple have begun to include both types of SIM in their newer devices.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Apple's new iPads let you switch wireless carriers without changing SIM cards". The Verge. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "More proof AT&T is clueless/evil: Carrier busts ‘Apple SIM’ feature". VentureBeat. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "GSMA: Understanding SIM evolution". Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "9.7-inch LTE iPad Pros include an embedded Apple SIM, but you can still swap out carrier SIM cards". 9to5mac.com. Retrieved 30 March 2016.

External links

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