Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

German carrier receiving nano-SIMs ahead of expected iPhone launch

Germany's Deutche Telekom has begun distributing nano-SIM cards to its partners ahead of the anticipated launch of Apple's next-generation iPhone.

A picture of the new nano-SIM card being shipped out in Germany was published on Tuesday by German-language site iFun.de (translation). Letters being sent out with the new nano-SIM cards indicate they are intended for "the latest generation of smartphones," but do not mention the iPhone specifically.

Apple's next-generation iPhone is rumored to feature a nano-SIM slot that's roughly 40 percent smaller than current micro-SIM cards. The new design should allow smartphone makers like Apple greater flexibility when designing handsets.

The nano-SIM was a point of controversy earlier this year, when Nokia objected to Apple's design. The Finnish company argued that the design violated a "no jamming" rule because its length was too similar to the width of current-generation micro-SIMs.

Apple responded in May by slightly adjusting the dimensions of card by adding a small amount of plastic around the edges of the electrical contacts, making the new nano-SIM just long enough so that it can't be forced lengthwise into an incompatible socket.

Apple's nano-SIM design was selected by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute in June as the fourth official form factor for the SIM card standard. In July it was said that European wireless operators were placing orders for nano-SIM cards in anticipation of Apple's next iPhone, but Tuesday's leak is the first evidence of an official carrier nano-SIM card in the wild.



12 Comments

herbapou 14 Years · 2219 comments

Shouldn't Apple send is iphone event invitations this week for a rumorer sept 12 launch?

ghostface147 16 Years · 1628 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by herbapou 

Shouldn't Apple send is iphone event invitations this week for a rumorer sept 12 launch?

 

Of course.  

 

Nano-SIM, the same micro-SIM with less plastic!

redgeminipa 13 Years · 555 comments

I hope the micro-SIM can be trimmed down. Some are saying the nano-SIM isn't just smaller, but thinner. Looks like I'll have to get out the sandpaper. LOL

gazoobee 15 Years · 3753 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostface147 

 

Of course.  

 

Nano-SIM, the same micro-SIM with less plastic!

 

Carefully designed so you are forced to re-up your contract for another three years, simply to get a hold of the new SIM (which does nothing different from your old SIM and improves nothing about the experience of using the phone for the customer).

 

Improvement?  Yay?  :-/

elppa12 12 Years · 5 comments

It's one piece of a complex engineering puzzle. And as such the Sim change, along with other alterations, allows them to re-design the phone for bigger screen, bigger battery, 4G chips, slimmer profile etc. I hardly think they had contract renewals on their mind when re-designing the sim. After all, it was Apple that wanted to do away with the sims all together.