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cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
No, or at least, not necessarily.

Look at this image (actually from a macrumors story)

Image

The contacts are different. Also, the mechanics are different. You have to make sure the trays operate properly, the cards don't get damaged, aren't prone to losing electrical contact because this one is thinner and getting errant "no SIM" messages (some customers have experienced this before on previous iPhones), etc.
The cards are the same thickness which is why a nano-SIM, micro-SIM, or mini-SIM can all be punched out of the original standard SIM card.

The contact placement is always the same, it's just that different manufacturers vary the way they cover the contact area. There's a precise target area, plus a radius of variance that the contact needs to support, because individual cards and slots will vary a bit once they are inserted.

Trust me, I have about six SIM cards (one from T-Mobile, maybe three from AT&T, two from Truphone, and my Straight Talk SIM) and all of them look a little different.

If you get a "no SIM" error, pull out the tray and card, reseat, then re-insert.
 

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,972
That gold looking plating may actually be gold, which should be impervious to body oils and acids, being a "noble" metal.

I was not even going that far, but just thinking about ESD.

It looks like the ESD protection is continuously improved.
 

chrmjenkins

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2007
5,325
158
MD
The cards are the same thickness which is why a nano-SIM, micro-SIM, or mini-SIM can all be punched out of the original standard SIM card.

It's thinner too. .67 mm, while all before were .76 mm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subscriber_identity_module#Formats


The contact placement is always the same, it's just that different manufacturers vary the way they cover the contact area. There's a precise target area, plus a radius of variance that the contact needs to support, because individual cards and slots will vary a bit once they are inserted.

Trust me, I have about six SIM cards (one from T-Mobile, maybe three from AT&T, two from Truphone, and my Straight Talk SIM) and all of them look a little different.

If you get a "no SIM" error, pull out the tray and card, reseat, then re-insert.

Yes, and they have thousands of usage scenarios and seating attempts to collect data from if they deploy to carriers early. Plus damage could manifest differently. Having tight target areas and tolerances isn't an open and shut case when you have so many usage scenarios and possibilities for error or defect.
 

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
It's thinner too. .67 mm, while all before were .76 mm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subscriber_identity_module#Formats
That's interesting, I was erroneously under the assumption that the nano SIM was the same thickness as the three previous SIM formats.

For some devices, a trimmed down mini SIM or micro SIM card wouldn't work. I've trimmed down mini SIM cards to micro SIM size and used the altered SIM in mini SIM devices with adapters, but those devices have sloppier tolerances than the iPhone or iPad SIM card tray.

Thus, it is unlikely that a nano SIM trimmed down from a large (and thicker) card could work in a device designed for the nano SIM, but a micro SIM or mini SIM device could use the nano SIM with the proper adapter.
 

tbrinkma

macrumors 68000
Apr 24, 2006
1,651
93
No, or at least, not necessarily.

Look at this image (actually from a macrumors story)

Image

The contacts are different. Also, the mechanics are different. You have to make sure the trays operate properly, the cards don't get damaged, aren't prone to losing electrical contact because this one is thinner and getting errant "no SIM" messages (some customers have experienced this before on previous iPhones), etc.

The contacts on the micro- and nano-SIM cards in that picture are electrically identical. There are many stylistic changes which can be made to the contact which have absolutely no impact on it's functionality. If you find SIMs from several different manufacturers, you'll already find differences like these on the contacts, even on the same size SIM card.

----------

From those parts it would appear they are going back to a full size sim, so i unbelieve these are accurate.

None of those parts look *anything* like what you'd need to support a full-size SIM card, which is roughly the size of a credit card.
 

chrmjenkins

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2007
5,325
158
MD
The contacts on the micro- and nano-SIM cards in that picture are electrically identical. There are many stylistic changes which can be made to the contact which have absolutely no impact on it's functionality. If you find SIMs from several different manufacturers, you'll already find differences like these on the contacts, even on the same size SIM card.

Yes, and as I pointed out, the potential problems are mechanical in nature, causing electrical problems.
 

iSayuSay

macrumors 68040
Feb 6, 2011
3,789
906
Question is: Why Apple didn't make this jump from the start?
It's the same SIMcard minus the card part, nothing new really. So why bother with microSIM in the first place ... just save the space already from the beginning?

MicroSIM is PITA enough, I have to cut SIM myself when travel abroad and use local carrier since it's a bizzaro standard already. Now this?

Oopps .. didn't read about thickness .. scrap it already
 

AllieNeko

macrumors 65816
Sep 25, 2003
1,004
57
Do they really need to keep delivering the original, full-sized Smart Card form factor? How many phones based on that card layout are still in the wild at this point?

Couldn't they save a whole lot of waste plastic if they only mass-produced punch-outs for the form factors that are still widely used?

VERY few, that's why NOT all carriers still use a full size form factor - example, Orange in the UK it comes on a half-credit card size piece of plastic :p
 
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