Apple’s Tiny SIM Card Could Help Gadgets Slim Down

Apple's iPhone includes a small tray that holds the SIM card. Photo courtesy of iFixit

Apple wants future iPhones and iPads to be even thinner, according to a report, and to do that, the telecom industry will need to use smaller SIM cards.

That’s what Reuters heard from European carrier Orange, at least. The publication claims that Apple proposed to standardize a thinner SIM, and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has yet to make a decision.

It’s clear with this plan how fixated Apple is on details. A smaller SIM would only help decrease an iPhone or iPad’s thickness by a tiny amount, according to iFixit, a repair company that has studied the evolution of Apple’s components for years.

“They’re optimizing for fractions of millimeters here,” said Kyle Wiens, iFixit’s CEO, in an interview with Wired.com.

If the telecom industry agreed to adopt a smaller SIM card, other smartphone and tablet manufacturers would likely adopt the standard as well to make their gadgets thinner, too.

Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad both already use a smaller SIM card, the Micro SIM, a standard developed by ETSI. The Micro SIM has the same thickness as the larger, full-size SIM, but includes enhancements to better communicate with networks — so it’s unlikely that Micro SIM helped reduce thickness of the products.

For years, Apple has been hailed as the leader of industrial design in the technology industry, often being the first to introduce products with tightly packed, cutting-edge form factors, such as the iPod, the iPad and the MacBook Air. Pushing for a new, thinner SIM standard is an example of how Apple plans ahead for future designs.

Adoption of a new SIM standard would be a slow process, according to ETSI, and could take up to a year or more. iFixit’s Wiens agreed.

“One thing to keep in mind is how long these standards take to get through,” Wiens said. “They’ve got to plan for their needs a couple years out. Getting all the carriers on board will take serious time, so it makes sense to start early.”