With the launch of iOS 12.1, the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR officially gained dual SIM support. There's not much support for the feature among major U.S. carriers right now, though. The good news is that that may change soon for at least one operator.
Verizon is telling its employees that it's planning to launch dual SIM activations for eSIM and physical SIM cards in early December, according to an internal memo viewed by 9to5Mac.
Last month, we learned that Apple's dual SIM feature was causing some issues with Verizon. Specifically, when a Verizon SIM is pushed into the "secondary" position in the dual SIM setup, the connection gets moved to Verizon's 2G CDMA network, which has less coverage than Verizon's LTE, is dramatically slower, and has no MMS support. Verizon explained that it believed that the issue would be resolved before the end of 2018, and now it sounds like that may be the case.
Dual SIM support is a major feature of iOS 12.1. It can enable someone to have two different phone numbers on a single device, like one personal line and one business line, and it can also be useful for trying out a new carrier's coverage without having to mess with your current phone number at all. It's good to hear that Verizon may be planning to support Apple's dual SIM functionality soon, and hopefully the other major U.S. carriers follow.
