Could Android smartphones lose their SIM slots in 2020 due to the introduction of embedded SIM (eSIM) cards?

Of course, electronic SIM cards are gradually entering the market. However, you should not worry that soon there will be no Android devices without the support of a regular SIM card. For such technology to be widely used in the production of smartphones, it is necessary that it be supported by all countries where the sale of such devices is planned. Otherwise, the manufacturer risks losing a significant segment of the market, and hence part of the profit.

Sooner or later, but the slot will disappear in all smartphones, like the SIM itself in its usual form! By itself, the presence of unnecessary mechanical contacts of the card collectors is already a factor of unreliability, and of course progress towards a constant reduction in the production process allows the production of even more miniature radio modules and single-chip systems.
However, it should be understood that such a transition is possible only with the coincidence of the technical capabilities of mobile device manufacturers and telecom operators, on the one hand, and the legal framework, on the other. Considering that Russian legislation considers the use of such embedded cards to be copying of SIM cards, and this procedure is prohibited on the territory of the country, it is safe to say that in our country, in 2020 there will be no total transition to eSIM. IMHO

Only a small part of smartphones will remain without slots in the near future, because the production of slots, connectors and SIM trays has been established in production, and there are many manufactured but not supplied spare parts in warehouses that will not be needed for the new technology. They will try to first sell / deliver everything in order to recoup the costs of development, research and production, and only then, or a little at a time, they will start to implement new technologies in parallel.

Also, the process of mass adoption is slowed down by the impossibility of using in some countries where mobile operators are completely unprepared, neither morally nor technically