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Apple Proposes Smaller SIM Card Design

Posted by timothy on from the microchip-limbo dept.

An anonymous reader writes with word that Apple, as reported by Reuters, has proposed a smaller SIM card standard. Says the Orange executive quoted, "We were quite happy to see last week that Apple has submitted a new requirement to (European telecoms standards body) ETSI for a smaller SIM form factor -- smaller than the one that goes in iPhone 4 and iPad." Hard to believe that any phone designed for the human hand could be much limited by the size of the current micro-SIMs, but this is one race to the bottom I'm pleased with.

5 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. It's not the size, it's the thickness by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The real issue is not the 2D dimensions, but rather the thickness of the card. You can only make a set of pressure contacts so thin. At some point, I suspect we'll see SIM cards that are thicker, but have their contacts running down the edge of the card instead of across the face, thus reducing the plausible device thickness from about a quarter inch to about a millimeter (if you ignore all the other components that are thicker than a SIM card tray...).

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    1. Re:It's not the size, it's the thickness by Lord_of_the_nerf · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Dear Apple,

      Shrink things that an everyday user will never handle.

      Sincerely, Users
       PS: That is, unless you somehow plan on profiting from the number that will be lost, dropped, damaged because of our fat sausage fingers

  2. Re:Dare I say it? by ModernGeek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'd rather have a phone that has a software-swappable identifier that handshakes with the tower, but I suppose that is just dreaming.

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    Sig: I stole this sig.
  3. Re:Dare I say it? by Bogtha · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Apple only need that bulky SIM holder because there isn't a user-replaceable battery and its associated cover.

    User-replaceable batteries take up more space. They need extra casing and catches that are otherwise unnecessary.

    Hardware SIMs are an annoyance. They should be replaced by software, in which case they would take up no room at all.

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    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  4. Re:Dare I say it? by taharvey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Snore.... Slashdot is paranoid about Apple, like teabaggers are about taxes.

    Nothing about Apples motives here have anything to do with exclusivity. That is why Apple is leading the way with a standards body. Apple is not the conspiracy that Slashdot makes it out to be. Apple is easy to understand, and their motive is always been clear:

    1. Sure they are insanely profitable and have a somewhat walled garden. But to see this as greed is to totally misunderstand Apple culture and Steve Jobs. It is all about Idealism and designing the "one perfect thing". In fact, Steve Jobs idealism for making "beautiful devices" that will "change the world" far outstrips any profit motive he has.

    2. Sealed batteries, smaller sim cards and the like are critical paths to Apple's future product plans. Just like technological advances enables product development, Apple sees industrial design and packaging on a equal footing with technology. They have conceptual products they are laying the groundwork for years in advance. Don't look at the current need look at the possible needs down the road.