Google and Apple might be one of the biggest smartphone OEMs in the world, but they are certainly skipping that one feature which caters a massive audience in India. If you are a die-hard iPhone or Pixel user living in India or parts of Asia, you must have wished for that second SIM slot in both these devices. Dual SIM functionality has been there in India for ages now and with time, it has kind of become the necessity.
People go for multiple SIM connections for various purposes in India. Subscribing to two different telecom operators gives you the benefit of the plans provided by both of them. Besides, multiple SIMs help people keep their personal and professional life separate. Another reason, which has extremely boosted the multi-SIM users in India, is Reliance Jio. Especially in the initial days, people opted for Reliance Jio as their secondary connection to take all the benefit of its ‘Welcome Offer’. Although we have definitely seen a drop in dual SIM users when Reliance Jio went paid, there are still a lot of people in India who prefer keeping two or more mobile connections.
If we talk about numbers, just over 1 billion people in India had a mobile connection in India by March 2016, according to a report from CARE. Further, the country added about 93.74 million at the later stages of 2016 mainly due to the advent of Reliance Jio. Now out of these over 1 billion number, about 15 percent of users own a secondary connection and prefer using them both at the same time, claims a report from Nielsen. And this number is growing proportionately, the report adds.
With about 150 million+ users in India using two or more mobile connection, the need for dual SIM smartphones is bound to grow in coming years. I personally don’t use two SIMs but I know people who can’t survive without two SIM connections and given Pixel and iPhones only come with only one lonely SIM slot, they are compelled to keep a secondary device. Interestingly, all the other OEMs have realized this and launch smartphones with dual SIM or hybrid slots these of which some are specific to the Indian market.
Rumours of Apple bringing a Dual-SIM iPhone has been on the internet before but we are not sure if Apple is actually planning to bring this feature to its products. Google, on the other hand, has been blindly competing with Apple ever since it launched its Pixel device lineup last year. So if Apple brings dual SIM to its smartphones, I will not be surprised if Google rows the same boat It is sad, how one of the most expensive smartphones currently in the market doesn’t come with a dual SIM slot or even expandable storage, for that matter. Sure, there are multiple storage variants but having an option to slot in a microSD card whenever you need some extra space is much more convenient any day. Also, it saves some bucks.
To conclude, dual SIM slots have been one of the most underrated features on a smartphone in India and because of that, the two big boys in the smartphone industry haven’t cared much to include it in their smartphones. A dual SIM iPhone or Pixel will be a sweet option next year if at all both the companies are any close to analyzing Indian customers. What do you think? Do you use dual SIM connections? Let us know in the comment section below.