Dual-SIM and eSIM IMEIs

One IMEI per connection, not per phone

It is tempting to read the IMEI as the phone's identity number, one per device. It is closer to a phone-line identity: each cellular connection the handset can hold gets its own. A single-SIM phone has one because it can hold one connection. A dual-SIM phone has two.

So two IMEIs is normal, expected, and printed on the box by the manufacturer. It is not a sign of tampering, and it does not mean you are looking at a cloned or rebuilt device.

Which is which

• IMEI1 belongs to the first SIM slot, and is the one usually treated as the device's primary identifier.
• IMEI2 belongs to the second slot, whether that is a physical tray or an eSIM.
• On most dual-SIM Androids, dialling *#06# lists both at once. On iPhone they are under Settings → General → About, labelled IMEI and IMEI2.

An eSIM-only iPhone — every model sold in the United States since the iPhone 14 — still reports IMEIs in exactly this way. Removing the tray did not remove the identifiers.

Both point at the same model

Every IMEI a handset reports is allocated from the same TAC, the 8-digit block the GSMA assigned to that model. The digits after it differ, but the first eight do not. A lookup reads the TAC, so IMEI1 and IMEI2 return the same make and model — either one works, and neither is more correct than the other.

Both also carry their own valid check digit, so both should pass a checksum test. If one passes and the other fails, the failing one was almost certainly mistranscribed.

The EID is a different number

An eSIM has an EID as well — a 32-digit identifier for the embedded SIM chip itself, used by carriers to provision a profile onto it. It is not an IMEI, it is not interchangeable with one, and it will not work in a device lookup. If a carrier asks for the EID, they mean that number specifically. See IMEI vs serial number vs MEID for how the identifiers divide up.

Which one to give out

For insurance, a warranty claim or a repair, supply the one the form asks for, and supply both if it does not specify — they identify the same handset, so there is no risk of naming the wrong device. For country registration schemes, expect to declare every IMEI the phone reports; a registry that clears only one of two will leave the second connection blocked.

When two IMEIs is a problem

One case is worth knowing. If a phone reports two IMEIs and the first eight digits differ between them, that is genuinely odd — they should share a TAC. Likewise if the number on the tray or box does not match what *#06# reports on the device. Neither is proof of anything on its own, but both are worth resolving before you rely on the device, and both are visible for free in about ten seconds.