The Future Of Dual SIM Phones

Dual SIM phones have been around a lot longer than some people realise. For a long time demand for dual SIM phones outstripped supply, primarily due to the major phones brands and companies reluctance to get involved in any major way, so they did not produce any quality mass market dual SIM phones. This left a void for other lesser known OEM phone manufacturers to develop and sell dual SIM phones. Often the quality was not up to par so sales were limited to the people that really needed or felt they needed a dual SIM phone.

But fast forward to today and now some of the major manufacturers are producing dual SIM phones and things are very different. This article is going to discuss why people need dual SIM phones (depending on where people are from they have very different needs that the dual SIM phones satisfies) and will then go on to discuss the future of the dual SIM phone (2015-2016) before concluding.

Why People Buy Dual SIM Phones?

We are going to split this into the developed world and the developing world. Why? Because depending on which side you fall on the likely reason you want a dual SIM phone is very different. We will start off with the developed world.

Reasons Why People In The Developed World Want Dual SIM Phones

The two main reasons why people in the developed world want dual SIM phones is first is because they want to avoid expensive roaming charges when going abroad. Having a dual SIM phone means they can have their standard home country SIM card in their phone as well as the SIM card of the country they are visiting at the same time. This option gives them the best of both worlds – people from outside of the country they are in can reach them and talk to them cheaply and they can use the SIM of the country they are in to cheaply talk to people within the country they are visiting.

The second reason is because, in the developed world, more and more, people want to separate their work and personal lives, but not have to carry around two phones. The dual SIM phone provides the perfect solution to this dilemma, it lets these people have a work SIM and a personal SIM in the same phone and use them both, switching between them simultaneously.

Reasons Why People In The Developing World Want Dual SIM Phones.

If you thought the use case for dual SIM phones in the developed world was strong, wait until you hear how people in the developing world are making use of them and will continue to make use of them into 2016.

As reported by PhoneArena, according to research company Strategy Analytics approximately 1 in 3 smartphones sold at the global level in 2016 will be dual SIM smartphones. Further, the company “estimates that global dual-SIM smartphone sales will reach 431 million units in 2015, grow(ing) 19% to 514 million units in 2016”. That is a lot more than a lot of people would have assumed. But why?

The biggest market for these dual SIM phones is China and India. According to Strategy Analytics the huge adoption of dual SIM phones in these developing countries currently and in the coming years will be due to the consumers of these countries wanting to “manoeuvre their way towards the cheapest possible rates for voice and data” and to “tap into a better cellular coverage, since they can combine the coverage of two distinct carriers”. So in simple terms; having two SIMs enables them to gain cost advantages on the voice/data front and gives them the ability to gain better coverage as they essentially have the power of two carriers in one phone.

We believe these reasons are unique to the developing world, and thus the benefits are greater to the developing world because; 1) they are more price conscious/cost savvy as they tend to have less disposable income or spending power 2) in many cases their current telecommunications infrastructure is not as stable, as robust or of as high quality as it is in developed countries 3) dual SIM phones are considered more normal in these countries as they have entered the market at an early stage of the markets initial phone adoption.

What Does The Future Hold For Dual SIM Phones?

As the data above shows dual SIM phones are going to become more prevalent and more popular in developing countries in the coming two years as more of the developing world buy smartphones, and thus want the strong unique advantages that a dual SIM phones provide (lower cost and better coverage by having the power of two carriers in one phone).

We believe that as long as the consumers are cost conscious and the infrastructure does not keep up with their consumption demands then the adoption of these dual SIM phones will continue to rise. This will be heightened by the fact that a larger proportion of the phones on sale will be dual SIM phones to meet the growing demand, and they may not be priced that much higher than single SIM phones. So it’s not unreasonable to assume that people in the developing world that may not even have a requirement or desire for a dual SIM phone will buy one.

We predict that the outcome of dual SIM phones in the developed world will be quite different, and that all the growth in dual SIM phones will be driven by the developing world.

The reasons are firstly, the consumers are less cost conscious so are less likely to purchase a dual SIM phone in order to save money on carrier costs.

Secondly, the infrastructure is fully developed thus they receive excellent coverage with just one SIM.

Thirdly, we mentioned at the start of this article that one of the primary reasons why people in the developed world have dual SIM phones is so they can avoid expensive roaming charges when abroad. However, carriers like T-Mobile have recently abolished these high roaming charges, and assuming other carriers follow suit this key benefit of the dual SIM card phones in avoid roaming charges will no longer exist so logic dictates that the demand for the dual SIM phone will dip accordingly.

Forth and finally, there are early signs that some leading tech companies may be investing heavily in Voice Over IP software and technology for mobile phones which will allow people to make calls over their internet connection so not need even need a single SIM let alone a dual SIM phone.

Conclusion

So as can be seen, there is an interesting future ahead for dual SIM phones. We predict demand will dip in the developed world for the reasons mentioned above. However, conversely, demand for dual SIM phones in the developing world is set to rise in 2015-2016.