Mobile operators in Europe are stockpiling nano-SIM chips that are especially designed for Apple's next generation iPhone.
According to a Financial Times report, European operators have received order from the Cupertino tech giant for building up stocks of miniature SIM cards. The nano-SIMs are 40 percent smaller than the current micro-SIMs, and once released, will replace the micro-SIM cards used in the current iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 along with other leading smartphones. Other phone makers will also adopt Apple's nano-SIM design as soon as it is released with iPhone 5.
After a fierce battle between Apple and Nokia over the issue of controlling nano-SIM design, the Cupertino tech company got approval from mobile phone industry's standards group earlier this year. The nano-SIM will help Apple save some more space in the tightly designed interior of its next iPhone.
While Apple is still tightlipped about features and release date of its next-generation iPhone, an unnamed source has informed Financial Times that the European telecom companies are already aware of the huge demand that will be generated by Apple's next iPhone once released and therefore stocking millions of the chips in warehouses to be ahead of demand. He further added that iPhone 5 will sport the same size of the iPhone 4 but will be slimmer and will have a full metal body.
Meanwhile, a separate report from Macotakara blog has claimed that the new iPhone will have both glass and aluminum. The report has cited listings of iPhone 5 cases on China's Alibaba.com as its source.
Apple's next iPhone is expected to be released anytime between September and October and according to various rumors, iPhone 5 will sport bigger screen, Quantum Dot LED curved glass with 16:9 Aspect Ratio display and 1,136x640 resolution, 367ppi pixel density, iOS 6.0, A6 or "a variation of the A5X's S5L8945X architecture" processor, 1GB RAM, bigger battery and will support 4G or LTE network.
