Information from Feixiang net on September 14, 2012
A China Mobile representative stated that China Mobile has begun buying Nano-SIM cards for iPhone 5 from Europe, even though the Apple iPhone5 will not be sold in China until several months after its release in North America and Europe. At the same time, Guangdong Mobile’s GSM branch confirmed on their official blog that the Nano-SIM card will be sold at China Mobile stores. This means that China Mobile customers will get an early advantage compared to other users.
It was reported in the early hours of the morning on September 13, that iPhone5′s new Nano-SIM card is smaller than the SIM card of iPhone 4S due to its slimmer body. Taobao has already began selling Nano-SIM card cutters and iPhone 5 cases. However, the manufacturers of the Nano-SIM cards said that the new SIM cards are 15% thinner than the conventional SIM and Micro SIM cards, and the difference in the thickness of the cards means that even if SIM cards from previous generations are cut, they still cannot be used in the iPhone
The reporter learned that Apple first submitted its NanoSIM card (4FF) standard to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in May this of year, and it was accepted by ETSI in June of 2012. Currently, only the Apple supports the NanoSIM card standard, and iPhone5 is the first smartphone using it. As noted above, the Nano-SIM card is 15% thinner than those of previous generations, and has an area smaller that is one-third smaller than the Micro-SIM card, and 60% smaller than an ordinary SIM card.
Due to the difficulty of getting a Nano-SIM card by using a card cutter, domestic users of iPhone 5 will need to wait for the carrier officially start selling them. Both China Telecom and China Unicom have released purchasing statements, but only China Mobile has processed the order to procure mobile iPhone 5 SIM cards. In the meantime, ingenious Apple fans in China will have to make do with thinking up new ways to get the iPhone to work earlier.
Source: http://www.cctime.com/html/2012-9-14/20129131638305737.htm
