iPhone 5-friendly nano-SIM cards appear at T-Mobile stores

T-Mobile subscribers can now get in on the iPhone 5 fun, as nano-SIM cards have showed up at the carrier's stores.

Though Apple doesn't sell the iPhone through T-Mobile, The nano-SIM cards allow unlocked versions of the popular smartphone to be activated on its 4G HSPA+ network. Users will still need a contract with T-Mobile to use the iPhone on the network.

Unofficial T-Mobile blog, TmoNews, noticed the new nano-SIM cards appearing in stores on Saturday. But since the SIM cards just started showing up this weekend, it might not be available everywhere in the U.S. just yet.

The release came as a bit of a surprise - the smaller SIM cards weren't expected in stores until the middle of October - according to rumors. But no one is complaining about getting the cards a few weeks early.

Unlocked yet pricy

To use the card and get on T-Mobile's network, one must buy an unlocked version of the iPhone 5 first.

Since the unlocked models don't come with any carrier-subsidized contract discounts, it will put a bigger dent in the budget.

An iPhone 5 will cost $649(16GB), $749(32GB) and $849(64GB) without a contract. The unlocked iPhones can be purchased directly from Apple or carriers such as AT&T or Verizon.

The nano-SIM card is 40 percent smaller than the micro-SIM card, which it's replacing. The iPhone 5 shrank 18 percent from the iPhone 4S, so it needed the extra space the extra-small SIM design can afford.

The iPhone 5 is the first smartphone to use the tiny SIMs, so they might be a bit harder to find at first.

But the European Telecommunications Standards Institute named Apple's nano-SIM architecture as the official fourth form factor SIM card.

So we should see the nano-SIM in a lot more phones in the future.

Via AppleInsider