Mobile phone SIM card sizes

Most modern smartphones use microSIM cards – but what are they?!

Old style “normal” phones (like your trusty old Nokia phone that lasted a week between charges) use a mini SIM card.  They are the SIM cards with the most plastic around the gold contacts.  Many Blackberry handsets use these, too.

Many current smartphones – like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 4 – use the micro SIM : that’s the size with a little bit of plastic around the gold contacts.

Rare at the moment, but the smallest size is the nano SIM – the iPhone 5 uses that: it’s the one with pretty much no plastic around the gold contacts.

Comparison of different SIM sizes

mini-micro-nano-sim-sizes-w

The gold contacts in each case are all exactly the same.  If you feel brave. you can cut a mini SIM to size so that you can use it as a micro SIM – but most people prefer to ask their mobile network to send them a new one.

Cutting to size to make smaller

To cut a mini SIM to micro size, you can use a cutter like this – about £3 from Amazon: it looks like a stapler and just punches the gold contacts out of the oversized plastic.

Making bigger

If you have a SIM that’s smaller than you need, you can just get a plastic holder that will make your SIM bigger again.  They’re about £2 from Amazon, something like this.