Google made a bold move with the Pixel 10, even if it’s not obvious yet. Here’s why

Comply with ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The Google Pixel 10 collection within the US is shedding the bodily SIM card slot and going eSIM solely.
• The Google Pixel 10 Professional Fold is the one exception, with a later launch date in October.
• To accommodate the networking change, Google is providing enhanced SIM-swap assist.

Google simply introduced its newest smartphone lineup, the Pixel 10 series, and sure, on the floor, they give the impression of being an entire lot like final 12 months’s Pixel 9. Nevertheless, there’s one very vital change beneath the hood: the transfer towards utilizing eSIMs solely, ditching the bodily SIM card solely. 

With final 12 months’s Pixel 9 collection, customers had the choice of getting a conventional SIM card or an eSIM. With the Pixel 10, foregoing the SIM tray altogether is a moderately surprising transfer that may not be standard with everybody. Notice that this variation applies to telephones within the US solely. 

Additionally: Everything announced at Made by Google 2025: Pixel 10 Pro, Fold, Watch 4, and more

So what is the distinction between the 2? Conventional SIM playing cards — acquainted to most smartphone customers — are bodily, detachable chips related to a single provider and quantity. An eSIM (or embedded SIM) is a built-in part that is a part of the telephone’s {hardware}. 

The advantages of an eSIM embody the flexibility to have totally different profiles hooked up to totally different numbers or plans — even totally different carriers — on the identical system, permitting for various strains for private or enterprise, for instance. 

The Pixel 10 collection telephones will assist two eSIM “slots,” permitting for 2 totally different numbers. That is all managed by the telephone’s software program or by scanning a QR code, as a substitute of extracting a chip from the system. 

Additionally: Finally, Pixel 10 ends Android’s MagSafe envy with its new PixelSnap feature

All the brand new Pixel 10 fashions introduced will transfer towards eSIM solely, besides, notably, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, which can proceed to assist each kinds. 

It is principally newer telephones which have gone the eSIM route, and one thing Apple has completed for the reason that iPhone 14 was launched again in 2022. Eradicating the bodily tray that homes a bodily SIM card additionally frees up beneficial actual property within the telephone for different elements, a part of the continuous march towards smaller and smaller gadgets. 

Just a few different Androids assist eSIM, together with Samsung’s Galaxy S22 collection, the Galaxy Z Fold 4, and Z Flip 4, amongst others. However as an entire, eSIM assist throughout Android gadgets is an inconsistent patchwork primarily based on totally different fashions and carriers. 

Additionally: 5 new AI features on Pixel 10 that feel like magic

For instance, older Pixel telephones do assist eSIM, however they’re largely restricted to Google Fi — the corporate’s personal telephone provider service. The Pixel 10, by comparability, is appropriate with different carriers like Verizon. 

Google is now squarely on the forefront of eSIM assist on Android, as its adoption on the Pixel 10 collection goes to indicate. The underside line is there’s nonetheless a number of compatibility points to iron out within the Android ecosystem, leaving a number of customers tethered to conventional SIM playing cards.