After rumors that Apple is testing new, smaller cards for the next generation iPhone, Norwhereelse.fr has posted a comparison of photos showing the micro-SIM tray used in the iPhone 4S, with what they claim is the nano-SIM tray for the next iPhone.

The part, if real, would prove that Apple will be using a smaller SIM card form factor later this year.

With these new pictures, MacRumors has since re-examined the photos from May of what could be the device’s SIM tray, and believe that they were incorrect in their initial assessment.

With new photos of the next-generation iPhone’s SIM tray in hand, we have reexamined the photos from early May of what was also claimed to be the device’s SIM tray, and we now believe that we were incorrect in our initial assessment that that part represented a micro-SIM tray nearly identical to that found in the iPhone 4S. While those photos did not show the side of the tray that holds the SIM card, the overall dimensions of the tray are in a ratio of roughly 1.55-1.6.

It would appear that Apple is indeed planning to use the nano-SIM, even before it is approved by the ETSI (European Telecommunications Institute). The nano-SIM card itself has a dimension ratio of 1.4, compared to the 1.25 of the current micro-SIM. This is in line with the nano-SIM tra seen in the pictures, which would have dimensions in a ratio of approximately 1.37.

[via MacRumors]