Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/09/iphone_5_photos_nano_sim/
Oooh-la-la! 'iPhone 5' bares all, strokes tiny nano-SIM in pics
Size does matter
Posted in Mobile, 9th August 2012 17:02 GMT
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Apple's leaky supply chain has doled out pictures of the insides of what's claimed to be an iPhone 5, indicating that the forthcoming mobe will take nano-SIMs.
Photos of what appears to be the next-gen handset fresh off a Chinese assembly line appeared on French site Nowhereelse.fe [1], and revealed the presence of a nano-SIM drawer as well as a larger screen and new 9-pin connector for hooking the gadget up to a computer or power point.
Apple moved to micro-SIMs from normal SIM cards, which identify individual customers on a mobile network, for the iPhone 4 to save space within the tightly packed phone, but the nano-SIM is much more compact.
The nano-SIM is 40 per cent smaller than the micro-SIM and thinner, allowing it to fit inside even thinner mobes.
A row kicked off over the nano-SIM [2] in March when several companies including Apple were touting their own ideas for the tiny chip. Rival phone makers including Nokia, which came up with its own nano-SIM design, feared Apple would patent its nano-SIM blueprint and claim royalties from everyone using the standard.
The official nano-SIM standard was then set in June [3] by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute ensuring that all cards are 12.3mm wide by 8.8mm high, and 0.67mm thick.
The FT reported [4] in July that carriers were stocking up on nano-SIMs ahead of the expected iPhone 5 launch in September. ®