Next iPhone To Use Nano SIM Cards; Carriers Begin Stockpiling

Rumors by the dozen are a given before the release of any Apple device. Some of these are more believable than others and we have one such rumor on our hands now, courtesy BGR. The blog seems very informed, to say the least. After having confirmed, not suggested, that the next iPhone will have 4G LTE radios, NFC and 1 GB RAM to boot, they have now said that carriers across Europe are testing nano SIM cards. The blog has also confirmed that Apple will be using the minuscule SIM cards with the iPhone 5 that are currently being tested.

A SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) is simply your phone’s unique identifier and is what helps networks identify you. As is evident from the name, a nano SIM is smaller than both standard and micro sizes.

Reportedly, Apple is has supplied carriers with these SIM cards alongside specially suited adapters to test how nano SIMs work with their respective networks on prototypes and carriers have given Apple the green signal. It needs testing like any new technology being put to use does; standard practice when anything new is introduced. Since the sixth generation iPhone is alleged to be the thinnest model to date, even thinner than the iPhone 4S, it would make sense that Apple is trying every possible way to achieve this and the little bit of extra space could easily be utilized by Apple for something else. The nano SIM will basically be a standard SIM, stripped of all extra plastic to make it really compact.

Apparently, European carriers are also now stockpiling these really small SIM cards in expectation of Apple introducing them for use with the iPhone 5. This will possibly prevent carriers running out of SIM cards which is exactly what happened when the micro SIM was first introduced with the iPhone 4/iPad.

Currently, a micro SIM is in use with the iPhone 4S. Needless to say, while people will welcome a super thin device with brilliant hardware and software, a new SIM size will annoy many people. This will likely make exchanging SIMs between devices a pain in the neck. Hopefully though, the nano SIM will become standard SIM size if introduced by Apple.

[Via]