Efforts to drive adoption of the eSIM seem to have stalled in some places around the world, and convincing phone owners to voluntarily give up a physical SIM for a virtual one appears to be much harder than initially expected.
The situation has been highlighted by data from South Korea, where even a network hacking scare barely convinced anyone to change.
A tiny percentage
Indifference towards eSIMs is clear in South Korea, where eSIMs make up only 5% of the overall subscriber base. To put this into further context, 2.9 million eSIMs are in use in South Korea, out of a total of 57 million phone users.
It’s mentioned that the 5% figure saw an artificial jump from 3% this year, after a network hacking scandal forced some phone owners to switch to eSIMs. It’s not being viewed as voluntary adoption.
The report puts this down to a lack of public awareness, and it’s enough of a concern that the government is prepared to step in. A spokesperson told ETNews:
While e-Sim offers significant advantages, it is true that actual customer adoption has been slow. We will formulate policies for its expansion by reviewing various measures, such as providing support for those who find eSIM issuance difficult, reducing cost burdens, and raising awareness.
A different story in the US
Things are different in the US, but adoption is not really voluntary. Although figures are harder to come by, a report from Persistence Market Research says North America leads eSIM adoption, and it has 38% market share.
It states voice and data plans make up the majority of the market, with smartphones and other consumer electronics pushing the majority of the associated subscriptions.
This may not be the win for eSIM it first appears, as multiple phones sold in the US are eSIM-only, meaning buyers have no choice but to use one. The phones include all iPhone models since the iPhone 14, including the iPhone Air, the Google Pixel 10 series, and various Motorola phones.
When Google introduced the eSIM-only Pixel 10, it claimed part of the reason was a requirement by carriers to support mmWave 5G, which isn’t needed elsewhere in the world, hence not switching to eSIM-only globally. It also said 70% of Pixel owners in the US already used an eSIM.
Most smartphones sold in the UK and Europe can use both a physical SIM and an eSIM. Hidden in a report on eSIMs for travel by DataM Intelligence, it said in a UK survey related to eSIMs, 40% had never even heard of an eSIM, and 41% didn’t know if their phone supported one.
Projections for eSIM
In 2024, the GSMA released a report on eSIM and predicted half of all new smartphone connections would be made using an eSIM by 2028, and potentially as high as 88% by 2030.
South Korea appears to be far behind the curve at the moment. In the same GSMA report, 2023 figures put the US’s eSIM adoption at 30%, making the more recent figures less positive.
Worse, a Juniper Research report indicates smartphones won’t drive eSIM adoption in 2026, and instead states it’ll be industries like oil and gas, and smart infrastructure like connected street lighting.
Negative experiences with eSIMs are also quite common, which won’t help efforts to pry a physical SIM from people’s hands, but if these digital SIMs are to be the future, it appears more needs to be done to make people aware of them and their benefits.
