The ongoing saga between Nokia, RIM, Motorola, Apple and more over the next-gen Nano-SIM card format has finally come to a close. Today the various parties voted on and passed the new standard. Measuring in at 12.3mm wide by 8.8mm high, and 0.67mm thick, the new nano-SIM card standard is a full 40% smaller than the current micro-SIM standard (which itself is still pretty tiny in our eyes). As an added bonus, the new Nano-SIM card format will be backwards compatible with micro-SIM and standard SIM card devices via 3rd-party adapters. Considering that backwards compatibility made it into the final spec, we’d say Apple’s original design (initially the only design to feature backwards compatibility) had an important role in the final design. Late in the game a new design from Motorola, RIM and friends sported a still different design from Apple’s, but one that brought backwards compatibility into the fold.
All that said, it will still be at least a couple of years before nano-SIMs start popping up in consumer devices available to the masses. But just know that when they do, a few more millimeters won’t be gobbled up by SIM card plastic.
Source: Etsi | Via: The Verge