Nowadays, SIM cards have been stripped down, removing almost all the surrounding plastic, and are essentially just a small chip. Having a card the size of a credit card inside a device the same size wasn’t realistic.
Mini-SIM (2FF) was drastically smaller coming in at 25 mm x 15 mm first being used in 1996.Full-Size (1FF or 1st Form Factor) was the size of a credit card 85.6 mm x 53.98 mm.SIM cards are mandatory for phones connecting to the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) networks, which is the telecommunications standard in over 193 countries that stores identification and security data on the card.Ī SIM card is a small smart card made up of embedded contacts and semiconductors that has gone through four sizes over the years: Billions of SIM cards have been sold to date. They were first developed by a German manufacturer for a Finnish mobile carrier.
Believe it or not, SIM cards have been on the scene since 1991.
