[telecom] One nano-SIM to rule them all: Apple submission approved as standard

One nano-SIM to rule them all: Apple submission approved as standard

The ETSI decision will open the door for thinner and more capable phones.

by Jacqui Cheng June 1 2012

The nano-SIM design proposed by Apple has been approved by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), opening the door for the creation of even smaller SIM cards and the continued shrinking of smartphone hardware. ETSI announced its decision on Friday morning, choosing Apple's submission over proposals from Motorola, RIM, and Nokia.

The new SIM card design is the fourth form factor (4FF) and is 40 percent smaller than the micro-SIM that is currently popular in today's cell phones. The exact dimensions of the nano-SIM will be

12.3mm wide, 8.8mm high, and 0.67mm thick (0.48" x 0.35" x 0.03"), according to ETSI. And, when it hits the market, it will be packaged so that it's backwards compatible with slots designed to fit the current micro-SIM. This will enable the new SIM to work with older handsets while phone manufacturers work to develop newer hardware that can take advantage of the smaller dimensions.

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***** Moderator's Note *****

Is it just me, or does this seem like a shrinking solution in search of a miniscule problem? I mean, think about it: a SIM card is supposed to be easy to handle, so once it's small enough to fit in a pocket, there's no more need to change. Shrinking it makes it /harder/ to use, not easier.

(Don't get me started on the sizes of phones. They're already too small.)

Bill Horne Moderator

I can't say if it's just you or not, but the reality of today is that many people are just _not_ using regular mobile "dumb" phones any more and many people are using smartphones only (iPhones, Android phones, Windows Phone etc.) Those phones are certainly bigger than the "dumb" phones of even a few years ago. The trend rather than smaller smart phones is HUGE smartphones some as large as 5.5 inches which should really be called phablets rather than phones since many tablets are only 7 inches. Any way to get the phone smaller by eliminating removal of access to a battery or shaving off the size of the SIM card is a desire of the makers of these devices. In order to keep the device small enough they have to find space somewhere. The reality of mobile communication is that it's something that's changing. 19 years ago we oo'd and ah'd over a brick analog AMPS phone and though that was the katzenpajamas. Things change :)