Carriers reportedly testing Nano SIM cards in partnership with Apple

We told you earlier in the week that European wireless carriers were stockpiling Nano SIM cards in the hope that the next iPhone will incorporate the newly ratified technology which enables thinner devices due to a 40 percent smaller footprint versus the Micro SIM standard.

As you know, Apple’s Nano SIM proposal was chosen last month by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute as the industry standard, following weeks of bickering between Apple on one side and Nokia, Motorola and Research In Motion on the other.

A new report from this morning has it that Apple is supplying its carrier partners with Nano SIM adapters so they could test Nano SIMs on existing devices before the next iPhone arrives in October

Update: everything you need to know about the iPhone 5

Boy Genius Report editor Jonathan Geller has the story:

Multiple carrier sources have exclusively told BGR that Apple is supplying nano SIM adapters so its carrier partners can test how nano SIMs work on their networks in standard test devices before they are widely deployed when the new iPhone is introduced.

This includes AT&T.

Geller also confirmed in a separate story that the next iPhone will feature NFC, 4G LTE and a new application processor with 1GB of RAM.

BGR has a mixed track record with Apple rumors (remember this and this?), but pundits have sure been keeping their fingers crossed for Apple adopting Nano SIM with the iPhone 5.

However, neither an alleged iPhone 5 schematics nor the video of a purported backplate have conclusively proved that the phone will sport the smaller SIM card.


From left to right: Nano SIM, Micro SIM and regular SIM. Image: Giesecke & Devrient

Another thing to consider: the regular Micro SIM standard took a whopping five years since ratification to appear in the iPhone 4. SIM card maker Giesecke & Devrient thinks Nano SIM won’t be held back by bureaucracy, noting recently that “adoption is being driven by a supplier” in an obvious nod at Apple.

The company also thinks “we’ll see a product very soon after ratification”, giving hope that the smaller SIM will after all debut on the next iPhone.

If this pans out, Apple’s iPhone will be the first consumer device to adopt the Nano SIM standard, just as the iPhone 4 popularized the Micro SIM card.

What do you think, will the next iPhone will feature Micro SIM or Nano SIM?