Apple has built a feature into iOS 27 called iPhone Handoff. It puts one phone number on two iPhones and lets you move your line between them.

You set this up in Settings, under Cellular. You nominate one iPhone as the main device and the other as the companion. Your existing eSIM, the SIM built into the phone as software rather than a plastic chip, stays on the main phone. The companion gets a second eSIM tied to the same number. From there you choose which handset the line is active on. Cellular settings stay on the main phone, and location sharing follows whichever iPhone holds the number. Apple has not said whether a physical-SIM main phone qualifies.

Apple’s existing Handoff technology has allowed the passing of a web page or a half-written email from iPhone to Mac. With the new iPhone Handoff, each phone still runs its own apps. You switch between iPhones with the same number, but you cannot have the same number running on two devices at once.

Are carriers ready?

Simply having two iPhones running iOS 27 isn’t enough. You’ll probably need the network provider to issue the companion eSIM, and then accept two profiles against a single number.

If you’re in Kenya, this feature may take forever. Or may never arrive. Switching eSIMs is still a huge problem on the Safaricom network. And support for this sort of thing with Apple Cellular hardware, for example with the Apple Watch, is yet to be achieved.

The Apple Watch has shared a number with an iPhone since 2017 through the same sort of carrier-issued profile. Nine years on, no Kenyan network appears on Apple’s list for it, as we set out when the rumoured 5G MacBook came up.

Who this is for

Well, Apple is about to launch their 2026 lineup. The Surprise and Shine event is next week Wednesday. We expect Apple’s first foldable, and a new lineup of Pro iPhones. With iPhone Handoff, you will be able to carry a normal iPhone and the foldable iPhone and move your number across those devices.

It also makes trying a phone cheap. Reviewers, and anyone torn between an Air and a Pro, can carry both with a single SIM card/number.