Dual-SIM
A phone that has two SIM card slots.
See: SIM
As a SIM links a phone to a specific carrier (service provider), billing account, and phone number, a dual-SIM phone can be linked to two different phone numbers associated with two different billing accounts. Those accounts and phone numbers can be with different carriers, and even in different countries.
One common use is to use one phone with both a business phone number (and account and a separate personal line. Another use is to have accounts with carriers in two different countries, in order to take advantage of favorable rates for local versus international calls, or to permit favorable rates for people calling you, by have local phone numbers in two countries.
Some dual-SIM phones only allow one SIM to be active at a time, requiring the user to switch SIMs via a menu option. Other phones allow both SIMs to be active at once, a feature sometimes called "dual-active". Similarly, some that allow both SIMs to be active only allow one SIM to use certain network features like 4G data or HD Voice.
Dual-SIM phones are uncommon in the U.S., but popular in certain other countries.
Last updated Oct 20, 2017 by Rich Brome
Editor in Chief Rich became fascinated with cell phones in 1999, creating mobile web sites for phones with tiny black-and-white displays and obsessing over new phone models. Realizing a need for better info about phones, he started Phone Scoop in 2001, and has been helming the site ever since. Rich has spent two decades researching and covering every detail of the phone industry, traveling the world to tour factories, interview CEOs, and get every last spec and photo Phone Scoop readers have come to expect. As an industry veteran, Rich is a respected voice on phone technology of the past, present, and future.
