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.

Comments

Why do journalists put a company's address in ever

[cyber-vandal]

Who cares if they're based in Cupertino, California?

Apple is nobody's friend

[TheMiddleRoad]

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.

Intel modems suck anyway

[Powercntrl]

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?

Now with the fastest speed on the slowest network!

[shess]

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.

Re:Why do journalists put a company's address in e

[phayes]

"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.

What about Mediatek?

[Zombie Ryushu]

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.

Re:It's not gonna hurt them

[Karlt1]

And this is why the infamous "less space than a Nomad, no wireless. Lame" saying could only have been born on Slashdot.

The iPhone when it was introduced, wasn't just a "touch screen phone." Did the LG that came out six months before hand have multitouch, a real HTML 5 browser, a decent mail client, media player, visual voicemail (which was unique at the time) , and a full desktop class OS that within a year could run the caliber of 3rd party apps that the iPhone could run?

Was the fingerprint reader on the Motorola phone usable? Even after a fingerprint reader came out on the iPhone, it was a year or two before Android phones had reliable fingerprint readers and even then they were fake security. The fingerprint images were stored on some non encrypted and available to any app.

Then don't buy it!

[blindseer]

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.