Cutters to make SIM cards fit iPhone 5 sold online but risky

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CUTTING devices to hand-modify normal Chinese cellphone SIM cards into smaller and thinner nano-SIM to fit in iPhone 5 slots are now available online, less than one week after the new model was officially released.

Vendors on the popular e-commerce platform Taobao.com are now busy promoting their latest SIM card cutters and teaching buyers how to hack a normal card into half the size and, after polishing, into a thin nano one.

But as the new Apple product has not yet hit the market to test the devices, buyers are running the risk of only getting a smaller but wasted SIM card after spending money and efforts in the complicated reshaping work, industry insiders are warning.

According to customer service workers with China Mobile and China Unicom, so far residents cannot get their normal or micro-SIM cards replaced as nano-SIM cards are still being developed. They said they may be completed before iPhone 5 hits Chinese mainland markets.

On Taobao.com, cutters are being sold at about 60 yuan (US$9.5) to 80 yuan each and many vendors have sold more than 300 since they started the business.

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