Talk of an embedded SIM card for the iPhone already started back in October 2010, when sources inside European carriers reported that Apple had been working with SIM-card manufacturer Gemalto to produce an embedded SIM card. This would ultimately enable Apple to reduce the role of carriers in iPhone purchases, by allowing consumers to choose a phone and the plan with the selected carrier in an Apple store on online with minimal interaction with the carrier. In November 2011, Apple was granted a patent that “sets out a way to incorporate a subscriber identity module (SIM) into the body of a mobile phone, within an embedded secure element.”

With confirmation that the European Telecomes Standards Institute (ETSI) is looking into Apple’s proposal for a new standardized SIM-card much smaller than the current micro-SIM used in the iPhone and iPad, the possibility of an embedded SIM is becoming even more plausible. This “nano-SIM” would afford Apple more space within their devices that could be used for bigger processors, batteries or other elements. A decision on the nano-SIM has yet to be reached by ETSI as Nokia and Apple advocated different standards, prompting the ETSI to postpone the vote.