SIM Card Sizes report
With the rapid development of the mobile Internet era, almost everyone has one or more mobile phones. And every phone has at least one SIM card in it. This coin-sized card has become an integral part of our lives. No matter how advanced the mobile phone is, if there is no SIM card, it can neither make calls nor send text messages, let alone surf the Internet.
SIM, the full name is Subscriber Identity Module. The SIM card is a chip card equipped with a microprocessor, including a program memory ROM, a working memory RAM, a data memory EEPROM, and a serial communication unit. In a world, a SIM card is a microcomputer.
Mobile phones must have "legal status" to use the operator's communication network services provided by the operator. And the SIM card you bought from the business hall has been "written," with the mobile phone number, representing your "legal identity" in the internet world.
SIM Card Size Guide
If you are opting for SIM-only purchasing, you will have to change the SIM card yourself, and this is where most phone users start having doubts about finding the SIM port or switching between the various SIM card sizes available. Depending on the type of smartphone and when it was made, SIM cards come in three different sizes:
- Standard
- Micro
- Nano
And you don't have to worry much about what size SIM card fits in your phone since most carriers will send you a triple cut SIM, which includes all 3 SIM sizes. Here are details about these common sizes.
SIM Card Size Chart
| SIM card | Dimensions (L x W) | Thickness | Introduced Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard SIM card | 25 mm x 15 mm | 0.76 mm | 1996 |
| Micro SIM Card | 15 mm x 12 mm | 0.76 mm | 2003 |
| Nano SIM Card | 12.3 mm x 8.8 mm | 0.67 mm | 2012 |
Full-size SIM card
The dimensions of the full-size card were 85.60mm × 53.98mm × 0.76mm (Length x Width x Thickness); it was sized as a credit card. In 1991, the German company G+D developed the world's first full-size SIM card and sold 300 of them to the Finnish operator Radiolinja. You would have hardly come across a full-size SIM card nowadays.
Standard/Mini SIM card
It was introduced in 1996, and it is 15 x 25mm. The most advanced smartphones that were mainly launched in the past 5 to 6 years will not fit the standard size as they have micro or nano slots.
Micro SIM card
The micro size was introduced in 2003 with 12 x 15mm. It is one size down from the standard size. iPhone 4 was the first phone model to use the micro size. However, now many phones have moved to nano size.
Nano SIM card
The nano size was first introduced in 2012 in 8.8 x 12.3mm size. It is the smallest size so far. You can not see extra plastic around the card, and it is the chip only. The new cell phone is most likely to go for the nano size.
The GSM11.11 standard has standardized SIM card sizes, and users can easily swap new SIM cards between phones without worrying too much about the wrong size. The SIM card also provides users with a lot of conveniences. To start communication, users only need to insert or embed the SIM card into any GSM terminal.
