Mobile

Why the resistance to dual-SIM mobile phones?

Abe Olandres March 29, 2010 · 2 min read

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For some time now, dual SIM phones have been hot among the masses. Majority of the handsets that have these are China phones or locally branded ones like MyPhone, Cherry Mobile or Torque.

I actually wrote a similar entry last year — Why Dual-SIM phones arenâ€™t picking up?

I remember, about 8 year ago, people would go to Greenhills and have their Nokia phones converted to dual SIM phones. It involved a replacement part attached at the back of the handset and makes the battery compartment bulging at the back.

Then we got them dual-SIM China-phones that are uber-cheap with price range from Php2,000 – Php4,000. That really got a lot of attention (and we’ve covered that topic here several times, including that Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho feature).

The big brands seem to take their time in introducing similar handsets. The first one I’ve encountered was from Samsung. Not sure if it was the Samsung Fizz or the SGH-780 (Samsung actually has a total of 5 dual SIM phones but I’ve only seen one model introduced locally). Earlier this month, I also saw LG putting out an ad for their very own dual SIM phone under the model LG GX200. I have yet to see Nokia and Sony-Ericsson showing off their own versions.

I guess the main reason why the big brands are not too eager with dual-SIM phones despite of the growing demand ia because it will just eat into their market share.

We’re already familiar with people owning 2 or more phones at the same time. Instead of buying two handsets, consumers might settle for only 1 unit with dual-SIM capability. That trend could eventually affect total sales and margins of the big brands. That’s on top of the other reasons I mentioned here earlier (i.e. battery life and telco subsidy).

Nevertheless, at least we’re seeing the big names producing their own dual-SIM although the ones they’re making are mostly entry-level phones. I don’t think they’ll dot he same with their high-end smartphones though.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

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65 Comments

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DJ Alyaris · 16 years ago

Apart from the reasons already mentioned such as: Demand for multi-sim phone is not for all countries/markets, and Dual sims decreasing their market share… They are probably not keen on creating multi-sim brands, since it will not sit well with their partner TelCos. If I were a Telco, say Sprint, ATnt, Verizon, Vodafone, Virgin Mobile, Smart, Globe etc… I will not be happy knowing that there are phones out there created by my partner Phone Manufacturers (who’s phone I sell lower for a contract), that have Dual-Sim capabilities and thus decreasing my own Marketshare. However, this idea though will sit well with “secondary SIM options” such as SUN or Virgin Mobile in some cases, since their real marketshare are customers who are looking for a “secondary SIM card”.

Home made 3G booster · 16 years ago

I think the demand for dual sim phones were only here in the Philippines, that is why big brands like nokia, SE, ignores it. Try these Other Ninoy and Cory Phone Models.

abbey · 16 years ago

i bought nokia 6300 china phone last year, wasn’t satisfied at all.. Natuwa ako bcoz dual sim sya.. I’m fond of having different sim cards kse eh.. But then, habang tumatagal makikita mu talaga na low quality sya.. I already gave it to my sister so I bought nokia e63 for myself.. Di nga sya dual sim but then ok na sakin to.. High quality and i know tatagal talaga sya.. If i’m gonna buy a dual sim phone cguro,di na china phone.. Mura nga sira naman agad.. kung ok naman quality ng dual sim phone brands,why not?

dual sim gsm phones · 16 years ago

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I came to your blog. I like what’s introduced
in your blog. To have the opportunity to talk with you.
Also welcome you to visit my blog and have some advice.
Thank you

chris · 16 years ago

the only drawback i experienced from my samsung dual sim phone is that when the battery gets empty it is the end =(

IC DeaDPiPoL · 16 years ago

The only thing that I don’t like with those My|Phones is that the external memory capacity only supports around 2gig.

ben · 16 years ago

my wife is not a fan of dual sim cellphone. she urged me not to get one. i dunno why.

silvertooth26 · 16 years ago

Had a Samsung D880 for over a year, it was a slider phone, something i really didn’t like in my phones (Just a personal thing), it was good and like I said lasted over a year. Had the ribbon changed 2x within 2 months though. It had served it’s purpose so I retired it. Now using LG GX200 worth less than 6k, battery life lasts 7 days, I’ve had it for less than a month now and I only charge it once a week! Now my dream dual sim phone would be like this:

Candy bar type
Dual sim
Wi-fi capable
Not qwerty, not touch screen
Not china phone…

any manufacturer out there who can heed to this please, will pay cash outright!

razorous · 16 years ago

Could there be be a mobile where you could hotswap sim cards instead?

—just messin around hehe

markmarcelo0210 · 16 years ago

I’ve always wanted to have a dual sim phone. I currently have 3 phones – Samsung Star S5233, Nokia 2730 classic and Nokia 5230. I’m thinking of giving up my Nokia 2730 and Samsung Star for a pinoy made My/Phone dual sim phone. I will look for reviews of My/Phone’s line-up.

jerb · 16 years ago

Check this smartphone, http://www.cndigit.com/diamond-t5353-dual-systems-google-android-and-windows-mobile-6-5-with-wifi-and-gps-smartphone.html its got dual boot feature: android and winMo 6.5!

jerb · 16 years ago

Check this smartphone, its got dual boot feature: android and winMo 6.5!

mariJ · 16 years ago

I recently bought Samsung B5722, a dual sim touchscreen phone for around QR999 here in Qatar, (PHP12,500).

I bought it for the convenience since I have a local line and a Smart roaming number. Truly the battery life is short but for me this is acceptable than being forced to carry a bag just to stuff two phones.

Robert Sanchez · 16 years ago

I think it’s more of a stigma that dual sim phones seem to be cheap knock offs and poor in quality. But nevertheless, both my kids have dual sim phones and they and their friends don’t mind it at all.

My only concern about it is that they ask money to load for both sims….

rcsaint · 16 years ago

I’m using Samsung dual sim C3212, it’s definitely better than China phones. Battery can lasts up to 4 days, if you are not a heavy user. It’s very light and easy to use. It’s a basic phone good for texting and calling only but very convenient if you have many friends in different networks. After using this phone for several months now, one-sim phone doesn’t interest me anymore. I’ll never go back to using one-sim phone only.

Dual-sim phone rocks! It’s the way phone should be!

loadex · 16 years ago

Ayaw lang tanggapin ng major brands na kinakaian ng mga dual sim type phone ang market share nila. But have you seen Nokia entry lelevel phones?.. one gets a free sim plus a Jollibee GC worth 100 pesos for a phone worth P1300.

My friend who sells Cherry Phones informs me that Cherry outsells Nokia. Before they are selling 1000 units of Nokia a month, now it is down to 250, but Cherry phones sells around 800 units per month since it was launched.

mindyQ · 16 years ago

Reasons:

1) lack of support by major brands like Nokia, SonyEricsson

2) poor batterylife

symbiandreamsdotcom · 16 years ago

Same reason on mine. Yan ung inexplain q xa mga people na nagtatanung sakin. Imagine, outside PH almost are hooked to CARRIERS and plans. So my network ba na nagbibigay ng dalawang sim ? lolz.

simplynice93 · 16 years ago

Big brand cellphone manufacturers don’t put dual-sim feature coz some countries have a one-phone-one-sim policy. Other brands such as myPhone cater more to Filipino’s needs like dual-sim, analog TV, AM tuner, etc.

anonymous · 16 years ago

what’s the mobile phone habit in the U.S.? i don’t think uso sa kanila two mobile phones for several reasons. for one, calling a number regardless if mobile or landline, it costs the same. second, they can retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another.

dito sa pinas, one mobile phone fone for unli calls (Sun cellular) and another for Globe or Smart or Wireless Landline.

ryan ang · 16 years ago

At first I thought the headline tries to convey that the market isn’t biting the dual sim phones. It seems that the manufacturers ain’t the one doing the biting :P

I’ve used a dual sim phone. the Samsung D800. It is a slide up EDGE phone with support for two sim cards. I ended up using two mobile phones again. It wasn’t that the implementation is poor; but the phone didn’t actually have the features I wanted (Like when you said that dual sim phones from name brand manufacturers are feature phones more than smartphones).

What if they’d release a HD2 or an EVO 4G (assuming it’s GSM) with dual sim support no? That’ll be uber nice :P

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 16 years ago

@andre – there are actually triple-SIM and quad-SIM phones made in China. I saw a couple of them sold in Alibaba before.

MCV · 16 years ago

at the very least, it’s about sales. people who are supposed to buy two phones would then just purchase a single handset.

also, i think it also has to do with battery life. this is probably why only low-end phones will embrace this dual-sim technology, because it eats up batteries pretty fast.

Andre Marcelo-Tanner · 16 years ago

Why? Why not triple sim, or quadruple sim.

kinny · 16 years ago

I own 2 dual sim phones: Verzio Duplii exec and my/phone Q21. They come in really handy while travelling or when one owns a small bag.
I actually love the my/phone more due to it’s longer batt life, elegant form factor and it’s resemblance to the blackberry bold 9000. The duplii exec may be 3g but it looks cheap, has a short batt life and is kinda slow.

I love the fact that you can switch off one sim when you do not want to be disturbed by work on a holiday.