Honey I shrunk the SIM!

Stuart Corner
Saturday, 12 November 2011 15:55

Business IT - Technology

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has unveiled what it claims to be the world's smallest SIM card, the first nano-SIM, two thirds the size of the micro-SIM.

G&D claims the nano-SIM "enables manufacturers to produce devices that are even thinner and perform even better," and could be finding its way into the mobile devices as early as next year. The nano-SIM measures 12mm x 9mm and some 85 percent the thickness of micro, and standard SIM.

G&D claims achieving this degree of shrinkage to have been "a tremendous technical challenge," but it is very hard to see how this tremendous achievement will enable manufacturers to make thinner devices. A standard SIM is 0.7mm thick, so a 15 percent reduction is a reduction of 0.105mm, about the thickness of standard photocopy paper.

The nano-SIM is expected to be standardised through ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) by the end of the year. It will be backward compatible with devices designed for the standard and micro-SIM through the use of an adaptor.