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HomeOpinionPrinTechThe iPhone with eSIM-only option is even more secure. Find out how

The iPhone with eSIM-only option is even more secure. Find out how

With the combination of Apple’s security protocol Secure Enclave on the A series processor, Face ID and Find My iPhone system, it is a a much secure device to break in.

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Many Indians were worried they wouldn’t be able to ask a loved one or a friend to bring them an iPhone 14 from the US because the just-launched device wouldn’t work on Indian networks. Why? Because the iPhone 14 to be sold in the US does not have the SIM card slot. The device will connect to the cellular network using an e-SIM, a technology that has been around for the last couple of years but eludes markets such as India when it comes to the mass adoption. There are concerns this would allow Apple or carriers to lock out the phone to a particular network or region. But that could happen to phones with SIM cards as well. That’s why a carrier-unlocked version of the iPhone is also sold in markets like the US.

But the unlocked iPhone can still be purchased from the US.

You will even get an international warranty for it and it will be cheaper than what you will pay in India. The US model will arguably be more secure as you will be forced to use an e-SIM, which are software-defined SIMs prebuilt into the device activated from the iPhone’s settings interface. Airtel, Jio and Vodafone, all offer e-SIM facilities, and are integrated with the iPhone. So fret not.

Why do I stress on safety? Well, for starters, the iPhone is already a difficult phone to crack for a thief. Even the old iPhone 5C from 2013 was a secure device to be cracked — something even the FBI in the US experienced when Apple refused to break into a phone retrieved from a dead terrorist. Over the years, with the addition of features like Face ID and enhancements in Apple’s encryption, it has only become tougher.

With the combination of Apple’s security protocol Secure Enclave on the A series processor, Face ID and Find My iPhone system, it is not only a much secure device to break in, but can be easily tracked as well. When you remove the SIM card tray and map a SIM via software, it makes the job even difficult for the person trying to breach. Heck, you can map multiple SIMs via e-SIM technology on the new iPhones.

Often, what happens is that a stolen iPhone is rendered useless after the passcode is entered falsely ten times in succession. But what if the numeral passcode was something as easy as 1,2,3,4 or 0,0,0,0? Then the phone can be broken into — but with iPhone 14, the person needs to break into your iCloud ID, which is most likely to have a more complex password. And add to it, a SIM card mapped to a network in the name of a particular owner will further increase the complexity.

“The growth of eSIMs will revolutionise how the connectivity across the devices will be activated and managed. The e-SIM’s compact form factor offers significant space reduction for device manufacturers along with potentially higher security, re-programmability, and power efficiencies over the traditional SIM card solutions,” says Satyajit Sinha, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research in a research paper from 2019.

As Sinha points out for Apple, the main motivation is space saving and one less moving part, but the security benefits cannot be ignored. Of course, for security to be a thing, the telecom operators will need to do their bit on user identification. But this is the easy bit.

These are user-centric features that often don’t make their way to advertising campaigns. And this is what separates Apple from the rest. The iPhone 14 series also introduces “crash detection” that works due to a suite of motion sensors, a new dual-core accelerometer and a new gyroscope that can detect car crash impacts of up to 256G and automatically connect with emergency services and inform them about the exact location of the accident.

For US users, the iPhone 14 now gets satellite phone connectivity, which works despite no cellular network. Imagine you’re stranded in the middle of nowhere or perhaps have gone for a hike and want your mother to know where exactly you are via GPS. The device will sync to Find My iPhone that can be accessed from any Apple device or iCloud.com on the web.

But more than anything, the fact that Apple has removed the SIM card from the US models means it is testing the waters, which could mean a complete removal of the SIM tray from all iPhones in India too as and when the time comes. It has already removed the SIM tray for the cellular iPads for models being sold in India.

The e-SIM technology is already being used on smartwatches like the Apple Watch or the Samsung Galaxy Watch and likewise on our four-wheelers for the connected-car functionality. It is the smartphone where the e-SIM lags, but Apple’s moves could change the status quo.

Apple being the trailblazer could pave the way for other smartphone makers to follow suit, which would make the theft of smartphones much tougher across the board.

Sahil Mohan Gupta is a technology journalist based out of Delhi with over a decade of experience. He tweets @DigitallyBones. Views are personal.

(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)

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