Updated 1/4/22: Samsung contacted us to clarify that it cannot provide a specific timeline for launching the dual-SIM functionality, even on the phones with dual physical SIMs. Original story from 1/3/22 below.
Samsung's Galaxy S21 FE is hitting the US market with an extremely rare feature: dual physical SIM card slots, letting you have two mobile subscriptions at once—at least in theory.
Dual-SIM phones are popular in many other countries, but have essentially been banned here because US carriers refuse to sell them. Instead, US phones have been turning to embedded eSIMs that let you load a second subscription from a menu or a QR code. Recent iPhones, Google Pixels, and Samsung's Galaxy S21 lineup all have secondary eSIM capability.
Americans like dual SIMs so they can keep work and personal numbers in one phone, or keep domestic and foreign numbers while traveling. For people in some other countries such as India and Italy, dual SIMs were long about taking advantage of promotional pricing or in-network calling discounts on prepaid carriers, which is less relevant here.
Carriers prefer eSIM to dual physical SIMs because of a quirk in mobile tech standards. If a phone has dual physical SIMs, all carriers that use SIM cards and that have verified the phone model must work with it. On the other hand, carriers can opt out of eSIM. That makes dual physical SIMs more powerful than eSIM, as you have more carrier options.
For a while, the premier dual-SIM phones in the US were OnePlus' unlocked models, but the company eliminated that option with the OnePlus 9 generation.
The Galaxy S21 FE Has Two SIM Slots, But Do Both Work?
Samsung will sell a dual-SIM model of the Galaxy S21 FE in the US, the company confirmed in an email. Our test model for review is numbered SM-G990U1/DS. US carriers will likely directly sell a single-SIM variant that would be called SM-G990U. (There will also be other variants around the world.)
There is a twist, however: In our review unit, the second SIM slot isn't active. While the phone has a dual-SIM tray marked SIM 1 and SIM 2, putting a second SIM in doesn't light anything up in the firmware, and if you put a SIM only in the second slot, the phone acts like it doesn't have a card in.
Samsung says its hope to enable functionality for the second SIM slot by launch day, January 11.
For more, check out our full review of the Galaxy S21 FE.