UK mobile phone operator Orange has revealed that Apple is planning to shrink the dimensions of SIM card so that it could produce slimmer devices.

Speaking at Reuters' Global Technology Summit, Orange mobile services’ chief Anne Bouverot said that Apple submitted a proposal with the European Telecoms Standards Body (ETSI) to produce the new standard for SIM cards.

Revealing Apple’s move, Oragne executive said, “We were quite happy to see last week that Apple has submitted a new requirement to ETSI for a smaller SIM form factor- smaller than the one that goes in iPhone 4 and iPad.”

A spokesman for ETSI also confirmed that the Cupertino-based electronics giant had proposed for the new standard for SIM cards.

In case the smaller SIM cards become standardised, other mobile phone makers will also likely adopt them.

However the decision on initiating the standardisation work, which could consume more than a year, is yet to be made.