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Apple's New iPhones May Miss Out On Higher-Speed Data Links (bloomberg.com)
Due to Apple's complicated way of managing the supply of the components embedded in its flagship devices, the company's upcoming iPhones may miss out on the higher-speed data links that many rival smartphones employ. "One of Apple's suppliers, Qualcomm, sells a modem capable of the 1 gigabit download speeds," reports Bloomberg. "Another supplier, Intel, is working on a modem with the same capability, but it won't be ready for the iPhone's introduction, according to people familiar with Apple's decision." From the report: Apple could in theory just use Qualcomm's chips, but it has an aversion to being dependent on a single supplier, and its relationship with San Diego-based Qualcomm is particularly thorny. Cupertino, California-based Apple is embroiled in a bitter legal fight with the chipmaker, accusing the supplier of maintaining an illegal monopoly, and it's seeking to loosen Qualcomm's grip on the market for high-end smartphone modems. That's why Apple will stick with Qualcomm modems for some of its new iPhones while relying on Intel for others. Until Intel is able to offer its chips with matching features, Apple won't enable some of capabilities of the phones running with Qualcomm modems, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan isn't public. Apple, Qualcomm and Intel declined to comment. Apple's decision clashes with the marketing plans of a cellular industry desperate to show off faster network speeds to grab market share. The top U.S. wireless carriers -- Verizon AT&T, T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. -- have declared 2017 the year of 1 gigabit speeds.
Seriously. What's the problem? The problem with those high speeds is that it's very easy to reach the threshold at which users are throttled or capped. It might be a bigger problem for Apple if consumers could take full advantage of the bandwidth that's available, but throttling and data caps make that difficult. Are Apple users really missing out if users will be quickly throttled anyway for using the bandwidth that's available to them?
Who cares if they're based in Cupertino, California?
Any company, including chip makers and cellular providers, who think that Apple is their friend or partner is just fooling themselves. Apple is all for screwing everybody, from software makers to glass makers to consumers. How about that new AppleCare warranty with the huge deductible? No thanks. Not coming back to the brand. Enjoying this on my Alienware laptop with an OLED display AND touchscreen.
Nothing new here, even with the iPhone 7, the variant with the Intel modem is slower. Heck, the iPhone 6S had two different CPU suppliers, and battery life differences cropped up over that. Oh yeah, and the original iPhone had some LCD screens with a negative black issue.
I'm sure the faithful will still line up to play the iPhone 8 lottery. Do you feel lucky?
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
If the carriers want to make substantive changes, they should feel free to increase backhaul capacity. Otherwise for most of us you're just trading physical transmission speed for time spent in some buffer.
The hardware manufacturers have to realize that data caps are choking any demand for higher speeds.
Hell, 3G speeds of ~15 Mbps is good enough. The only reason to go higher is to maintain compatibility with whatever technology is being introduced.
"Journalists" with almost nothing to say have to fill in their stories with useless information that everyone already knows to make them longer & get paid more.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
My Android Phones have MediaTek chips in them, and some have T-Mobile's Band 19 support. How will this impact my MediaTek Devices? Some only support HSPA+ while others LTE and Band 19 LTE.
Word count.
^^ split up to increase my word count.
^^^^ Commented on to further increase my word count.
You speaking as if backhaul capacity hasn't shot up dramatically over the last few years, not only to each cell but also major trunking links between carriers.
There's a magic formula to building out a system, and that formula is not ensuring 100% bandwidth for 100% load for the 1% of the day that this scenario happens.
You're right, it should say "Avoid paying taxes in California". Much more informative.
Apple is always striving to be different. If they want to truly demonstrate that, then put upgrades over greed.
Actually put green initiatives first and give consumers a removable battery so phones could last a hell of a lot longer. Provide a good amount of memory for all models up front. Help stop the stupidity of making something we humans carry around daily out of glass.
We're sure as hell not going to be maxing out that pointless ludicrous-speed modem anytime soon, since US carriers are addicted to throttling consumers.
I'll take a slower link in exchange for a phone that works reliably. Each android phone I've had has been unreliable mostly because of carrier bloat. I am not willing to pay $700 for a google pixel
So tou can pay us twice...
"Apple has an aversion to being dependent on a single suppliers" -- This has been the golden rule for successful tech companies from the early days of Silicon Valley, see "Silicon Valley Fever: The Growth of Hight-Technology Culture" https://www.amazon.ca/Silicon-Valley-Fever-High-Technology-Culture/dp/0465078214
Why are people so obsessed with wireless speed? We're already past the point where, unless your downloading very large files or whatnot, you can't possibly interact with the data faster than you're receiving it. Heck, you're probably spending more time waiting for the connection to the server to be made and respond to your request, than downloading the actual data.
Not only that, but depending where you live, most people can't even get an unlimited bandwidth plan, which means that even at current speeds, you could consume your entire monthly allotment in hours or maybe a couple days, without even trying.
IMO there are plenty of other problems with wireless technology that are far more impacting than the supposed lack of speed.
and turn on the frikin FM receiver!
http://freeradioonmyphone.org/
If anything for the simple fact of emergency broadcasts.
Stop the presses! Apple is going to make something with outdated hardware? This is the first time this has ever happened. What is going on. Where shall I go for the latest and greatest hardware now?
No, it's a habit journalists have developed to uniquely identify an entity: there are multiple people with the same names in many cities, and there used to be many companies with names similar enough to be confusing, so it became habit to include enough info to disambiguate; e.g., so John Arthur Smith doesn't get fired because John Adam Smith was arrested for a crime.
By the time the carriers actually manage to roll this out to most areas, Apple will probably be delivering the iPhone 9 that will include chips that will handle it. Most people won't care anyway, as they can't read/send enough Tweets to matter.
It drives me crazy how we are talking about gigabit speeds for wireless, while I living in a house within the municipal boundaries for one of America's five largest cities, suffer from two terrible wired internet providers, both with top speeds already lower than modern cellular modems.
The wires and fiber between my home and the provider's central facilities are like perfect antennas. There is no way these connections should be slower. The twisted politics and economics of internet providers in the USA are pathetic.
Thank you for reading my rant.
Haha yeah. No other tech company bangs out new models like Apple, amirite guys?
I was looking forward to blowing through my 5GB monthly data cap in 40 seconds. Now I'll have to wait a whole additional year for Apple to deliver gigabit chips. (Oh, and then EIGHT years for carriers to ACTUALLY DELIVER speeds that high in more than just 2 cities in the country.)
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Google translate, maps are the must have killer apps. So no I don't care.
But what is funny is that there is a sticker on my phone proudly proclaiming that it has a Qualcomm modem. I thought that was odd, but now I see why..
There are hundreds and hundreds of choices you can make, if you haven't committed to Apple.
If not then, you can line up again at the Apple Store to trade in your Iphone 9 for an Iphone 10. It's a cultural experience! A lifestyle choice!
I hear so many people complaining about Apple being "lame" because their products don't do what they want. My reply? "Don't buy it then."
I'm trying to understand this vocal hate of Apple. It's one thing to make a brand preference but another to plaster it on the internet and bumper stickers. I like Ford and Pepsi products but I don't put a "piss on Chevy" bumper sticker on my truck or wear Pepsi T-shirts. I used to wear an Apple ball cap all the time because it was given to me and I like to wear ball caps. I stopped wearing it because people felt the need to comment on it, and few of the comments were nice.
I buy Apple stuff and I buy stuff from their competitors. If you think I made a bad choice in my purchases then could you at least be nice about making your point? I'd rather you keep it to yourself unless I ask but be nice regardless.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
It's really irritating, like saying "London, England". If it's not the main one or original one then fine, qualify it with the locale, otherwise it's just a waste of breath.
I think that Apple would see this as a distraction from selling you music.
Since when dual-sourcing has become a "complicated way" ? Multi-sourcing is a rather common way to operate in the electronics industry.
and turn on the frikin FM receiver!
http://freeradioonmyphone.org/
If anything for the simple fact of emergency broadcasts.
And what are you going to use as an antenna - the strings of the worlds smallest violin?
I think Apple is avoiding trying to incorporate Gigabit LTE (for now) due to the same issue that made Apple avoid LTE in 2011: the Gigabit LTE radio could result in very fast battery drain running in Gigabit LTE mode.
Remember, in 2011 the iPhone 4S did not incorporate LTE, which was starting to become available at the time on Android phones (starting with the HTC ThunderBolt). Anyone who remembers using the ThunderBolt remembers how fast the battery drained running in LTE mode, given the state of the art of LTE radio chipsets at the time. It wasn't until Qualcomm rolled out a far more power-efficient LTE chipset (MDM9615) in the spring of 2012 that Apple was finally able to incorporate LTE into the iPhone 5. I believe that Apple is waiting for new generation of more power-efficient Gigabit LTE radio chipsets now in early development at Qualcomm and Intel that will allow Apple to incorporate Gigabit LTE on the iPhone in 2018.