The New York Times - The SIM card is going away

A person holding a phone displaying a 'Set Up Cellular' task.

Photo: Ryan Whitwam

The days of physical SIM cards—the tiny plastic circuit boards inside cell phones that contain the phone number—are coming to an end. Phone makers and wireless carriers are making the move to embedded SIMs, or eSIMs, which are essentially digital cards that let you activate a new phone number through a carrier.
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These companies tout that eSIMs will make your life easier for traveling internationally and switching phone numbers. But we think they can also be frustrating to use.

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Here’s what you need to know→

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More advice from our tech experts

A phone sitting on top of a white towel and next to a glass of ice water with a lemon on it, perched on the edge of a pool.

4 tips to keep your tech safe and dry

One thing you should not do? Stick your waterlogged device in a bag of rice.

A Gigabyte Aorus 15 gaming laptop, to the right of a white mug with colorful spots painted on it.

You don’t need a pricey gaming laptop

In our tests, we’ve found that expensive gaming laptops can actually perform worse than cheaper ones. Here’s what we recommend.

A Western Digital My Passport Ultra portable hard drive with a cord attached, sitting on a pink background.

How to back up and secure your digital life

Here’s where to start to protect yourself from security breaches and data loss.

Plus: The (on-sale!) air fryer toaster oven that changed our minds

The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro with a yellow illustrated border around it.

Illustration: Dana Davis; Photo: Connie Park

For a long time, we thought that you couldn’t really have your (evenly baked) cake and an air fryer, too. But this oven nearly proves us wrong. Of all the combo ovens we tested, it’s the only one that’s both an excellent air fryer and an excellent toaster oven.

It heats quickly and evenly, combining the gentle consistency of a full-size oven and the crisping power of an air fryer. It can coddle fragile bakes or deliver super-crunchy tater tots in one sleek machine.

It’s splurgy. But we’re seeing it on sale right now→

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The New York Times - The SIM card is going away

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