Introduction

When using a smartphone / mobile phone or tablet, you will often come across the word "SIM," such as SIM-free, low-cost SIM, data SIM, and nanoSIM.

Although it's something we all know, the "SIM" is currently undergoing an evolution from a card-shaped device to a semiconductor component, and that's what we'll be talking about today.

Difference between SIM card and chip SIM

To put it simply, a SIM is a memory that contains the information necessary for communication.

A more accurate description would be "a smart card that records contract information with a telecommunications carrier, authentication keys, and other information, and is equipped with the security functions necessary for a mobile device to connect to a mobile network."

The difference is whether this important role in communication is carried out in a plastic SIM card or in a chip SIM, which is an electronic component.

Many people are probably familiar with the appearance of a SIM card, which has a row of gold terminals in the center and one of the four corners cut at an angle.

There are three sizes, from largest to smallest: standard SIM, microSIM, and nanoSIM. If the size does not fit, it will not fit into the device socket, so be careful.

In contrast, Chip SIMs use a package familiar to electrical design engineers (MFF2, a package similar to DFN8) and are small, leadless, surface-mount electronic components.

Will chip SIMs become mainstream in the future?

Card SIMs and chip SIMs each have their own advantages and disadvantages, so I think they will coexist equally well for the time being.

We will cover our pros and cons in another article.

About Connect SIM by macnica

Connect SIM by macnica is a communication service for IIoT (Industrial IoT) provided by Macnica.

We offer customized communication plans for NTT Docomo lines and multi-carrier SIM cards tailored to your needs.

We contribute to optimizing communication costs by proposing flexible communication plans that suit our customers' usage.

We also provide samples for verification free of charge, so please feel free to contact us.