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Will iPhone 5 hold dual SIM cards? We think not

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It seems like each morning sun brings with it a new iPhone 5 rumor. The newest word on the street? Apple may include two SIM card slots in the iPhone 5, making it possible to be on two wireless carrier networks at the same time. Sound odd? In the United States and Europe it is almost unheard of, reports IT Pro Portal.

In Asia, wireless carriers do not have the iron grip on customers like they do here in the western world. It is not unheard of for a phone user to have a texting/data plan with one mobile carrier and a voice plan with another. Others may use one SIM for business calls and another for personal calls.

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Will it happen?

Is Apple planning to bring this idea here? 9to5 Mac says no. The Apple blog believes that iDealsChina (which originated this rumor) has misinterpreted its source. Instead of multiple SIM cards, 9to5 thinks the source may have been referring to the dual CDMA/GSM chipset that will allow Apple to sell the same iPhone on Verizon and AT&T, which use different wireless technologies.

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Who’s right? We don’t know. All sources are anonymous when it comes to rumors like these and mistakes are often forgotten. It would be bold of Apple to include dual-carrier functionality in the iPhone 5 and U.S. carriers would not be happy about it. It is also a feature that would be confusing to many buyers and useful to only a few hardcore geeks. Apple doesn’t traditionally cater to the fringes of its audience. As some have said, it’s more of a 90-90 company. It designs products that are useful to 90 percent of users, 90 percent of the time. Sorry dual-SIM, but if NFC technology is still not cool enough for Apple, we don’t think you have much of a shot, at least here in the United States.

Just for AT&T?

In addition to the niche use of it, Verizon doesn’t use SIM cards on its CDMA 3G network. Therefore, the only local use of a dual-SIMed iPhone 5 would be for those who want two AT&T accounts. Unless, of course, Apple is planning on supporting T-Mobile in the near future.

Still, if the rumors are true, it may mean a renewed focus on business users. Maybe Apple will have a keyboarded, dual-SIMed iPhone 5 after all.

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Jeffrey Van Camp
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