eSIM stands for embedded SIM. It is a small chip fixed permanently inside the smartphone, which stores the information needed to connect to a mobile network in the same way a conventional SIM card does.
The difference is that it does not have to be taken out of one phone and put into another. A new SIM profile is added to the chip over the internet, and the connection starts.
The technical standard is set by the GSMA, the international body of mobile operators. Various handsets from Apple, Samsung and Google support the technology.
How many people use it
By the GSMA’s forecast, about 5% of total smartphone mobile connections were expected to be over eSIM by the end of 2025, rising to 10% by the end of 2026.
Foreign travel is one of the main reasons the use is growing. The research firm Juniper Research counted about 40 million people using an eSIM while travelling in 2024, and expects that to exceed 215 million by 2028.
The difference in practice
To use a conventional SIM you have to put it in the phone’s SIM tray. Getting a new one means buying it from a shop or waiting for it to be delivered. With an eSIM there is none of that: the details of a new connection are added over the internet to the chip already inside the phone. There is also no risk of losing the SIM card.
How activation works
After buying an eSIM package, the provider usually gives a QR code or an activation link. Scanning the code with the phone downloads the necessary SIM profile through a secure server and adds it to the chip inside the handset. On a Wi-Fi connection the process usually takes a few minutes.
The catch worth knowing before you switch
Everything that makes an eSIM convenient comes from the same fact: the chip cannot be removed. That is excellent until the phone dies.
With a physical SIM, a dead handset means moving a small piece of plastic into a spare phone and carrying on. With an eSIM it means re-provisioning the profile onto the new device, which needs the operator, an internet connection, and whatever identity check they ask for. If you rely on your number for banking one-time passwords, that gap is the thing to plan for — not the activation, which is the easy part.
Why travel is the use that took off first
The old routine abroad was to find a shop at the airport, show a passport, buy a local SIM and keep your own one somewhere safe. An eSIM removes every step of that: the travel profile is bought before departure and activated on landing, while the home number stays on the phone.
That is the whole reason for the forecast. Juniper’s jump from about 40 million travellers in 2024 to more than 215 million by 2028 is not a prediction that people will come to prefer eSIMs in general — it is a prediction about one situation where the advantage is obvious and the alternative is tedious.
Before you rely on it
Three things are worth checking, in this order.
Does your handset support it? Support is per model, not per brand, and the fact that Apple, Samsung and Google make eSIM-capable phones does not mean the one in your pocket is one of them.
Does your operator offer it, and can they re-issue a profile? Activation is the easy part. The question that matters is what happens when you need the same number on a different phone.
Can you keep a physical SIM alongside it? Many phones support one of each. For a number that receives banking one-time passwords, that combination is more robust than going fully embedded.
