According to a new rumor, Google’s Pixel 10 series might invest more heavily into eSIM, and largely do away with physical SIM cards as a result.
eSIM tech has improved a lot in recent years, especially as Apple’s newest iPhones no longer have support for a physical SIM card in the US. On Android, though, eSIMs have still faced an uphill battle and it can be a headache to use them, though it’s constantly improving.
Apparently, though, Google is planning to do away with support for physical SIM cards on the Pixel 10 series according to a new rumor.
Evan Blass (@evleaks) suggests that the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro XL will not support physical SIM cards and instead support two eSIM slots (where prior Pixels only support one). The Pixel 10 Pro Fold, though, would still support a physical SIM card – that SIM tray is clearly seen in a leaked marketing video.
This is certainly unexpected, and one to take with a grain of salt.
Not only is this post from Blass a bit out of the ordinary for the leaker with an odd “tipster suggests” opening line, but we’ve also seen Pixel 10 leaks that clearly show a SIM tray. Early CAD-based leaks clearly showed a SIM tray across all devices, while real-life leaks of a prototype device similarly showed a SIM card tray.
We’ll have to wait and see if this one turns out to be true as, so far, we’ve not seen any more recent leaks. The many images of the Pixel 10 series that have leaked in recent weeks have entirely lacked any view of the top of the phone where we’d see the SIM tray.
Top comment by John
"where prior Pixels only support one" this isn't true. My pixel 9 Pro XL supports many esims. I've got three of them. You can store a lot of esims on the phone. But you can only activate two at the same time. The pixel 6 Pro could only activate one esim at the same time but also store many of them.
In a follow-up tweet, Blass adds that the “only data point so far is US.”
But what do you think? Do you mind if Google removes physical SIM support from Pixel 10? Sound off in the comments.
More on Pixel 10:
- Specs leak reveals Pixel Buds 2a with ANC, Pixel 10’s Qi2 ‘Pixelsnap wireless charging’
- Pixel 10 series shown off in clean new images as software features start leaking
- Latest Google Pixel 10 series leaks show off what’s glossy and what’s matte [Gallery]
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Headline updated to reflect mention of US being the only data point.
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