For users who use two eSIM cards on the same phone, Esper says Google is working on an Android 13 feature that might be a game changer. Also, spare a little area for smartphone makers to put their own touches on it.
The search engine giant is working on a feature dubbed “Multiple Enabled Profiles” (MEP) that would allow users to choose between two different carrier profiles on a single eSIM. In a patent submitted in 2020, Google is said to have described a method of dividing the present SIM interface into two separate digital connections. Google had previously been said to be testing it on an engineering version of the Pixel.
As a result, manufacturers may be able to eliminate the SIM card slot altogether, freeing up space for other components. It’s possible that microSD cards may make a comeback, or that batteries will be significantly larger.
Even though the source claims that Android 13 will have the functionality, it is not a part of the operating system. It’s compatible with iOS and Windows, too.
Profiles that may be activated on Android 13
While working on framework and HAL support for numerous eSIM profiles in recent months, Google has made significant progress. Several modifications to Android’s Telephony framework have been submitted to the AOSP. The new UiccPortInfo class and new methods for the UiccCardInfo class are included in these updates. The new isMultipleEnabledProfilesSupported function in the UiccCardInfo class allows carrier apps to check if the device supports MEP, which necessitates radio HAL modifications in order to support. Carrier apps may now get information about each “port” in a SIM “slot” using the new UiccPortInfo class.
Physical and conceptual slots are both examples of a slot. The modem sees a logical slot, but the actual physical hardware, such as a real SIM card or an eSIM chip, is represented by a physical slot.
A port is a brand-new term for a SIM profile saved in a SIM slot that is currently active. MEP-enabled devices can have many ports in a single slot. MEP-enabled devices, for example, can have up to three ports if they have two physical SIM slots (a real SIM card and an eSIM chip) (one for the first slot and two for the second slot).
An actual slot is formed by mapping it to an actual port, hence in this case there are three logical slots. As a result, the modem would only be able to view two possible logical slots on our example device if it did not include MEP support. If you removed one of the physical spaces, you’d be left with just one logical slot. Each eSIM chip slot might have several ports, one for each active SIM profile, if it has MEP support.