Rumor: Apple's 'iPhone 5S' will feature 150Mbps LTE-Advanced support
Apple's next iPhone may offer even faster cellular data connections with support for the LTE-Advanced wireless standard, according to a new rumor.
Apple is allegedly in talks with SK Telecom about launching an LTE-Advanced phone later this year, according to The Korea Times. "LTE-A" is an upgraded version of the long-term evolution wireless standard currently found in the iPhone 5.
Citing an unnamed executive with SK Telecom, the report said that Apple is in the midst of negotiations with the carrier. Currently, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the only device to take advantage of the LTE-A standard with SK Telecom.
LTE-A is capable of theoretical download speeds reaching 150Mbps, which is double that of basic LTE. The executive cited in the story reportedly said there is "no reason" for Apple not to adopt LTE-A with its next iPhone.
The possibility of LTE-A functionality on the next iPhone is believed to be possible because of new chipsets from Qualcomm. A potential "global LTE" chip candidate for Apple was released in February, boasting truly global connectivity support.
The Qualcomm RF360 Front End Solution would enable an iPhone that supports all 2G, 3G, 4G LTE and LTE Advanced networks. Currently, the iPhone 5 is sold in three variants ??two GSM and one CDMA ? to offer compatibility with various networks across the world.
But Qualcomm's RF360 would mitigate this problem, and even add support for the obscure TD-SCDMA network used by the world's largest carrier, China Mobile. Apple does not currently have a deal in place to offer the iPhone through China Mobile, though rumors of a deal have persisted for years.
Apple is allegedly in talks with SK Telecom about launching an LTE-Advanced phone later this year, according to The Korea Times. "LTE-A" is an upgraded version of the long-term evolution wireless standard currently found in the iPhone 5.
Citing an unnamed executive with SK Telecom, the report said that Apple is in the midst of negotiations with the carrier. Currently, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the only device to take advantage of the LTE-A standard with SK Telecom.
LTE-A is capable of theoretical download speeds reaching 150Mbps, which is double that of basic LTE. The executive cited in the story reportedly said there is "no reason" for Apple not to adopt LTE-A with its next iPhone.
The possibility of LTE-A functionality on the next iPhone is believed to be possible because of new chipsets from Qualcomm. A potential "global LTE" chip candidate for Apple was released in February, boasting truly global connectivity support.
The Qualcomm RF360 Front End Solution would enable an iPhone that supports all 2G, 3G, 4G LTE and LTE Advanced networks. Currently, the iPhone 5 is sold in three variants ??two GSM and one CDMA ? to offer compatibility with various networks across the world.
But Qualcomm's RF360 would mitigate this problem, and even add support for the obscure TD-SCDMA network used by the world's largest carrier, China Mobile. Apple does not currently have a deal in place to offer the iPhone through China Mobile, though rumors of a deal have persisted for years.
Comments
Here is a link to the [URL=http://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/qualcomm-rf360-front-end-solution-product-brief.pdf]product brief[/URL].
I wonder how this will impact Samsung. Will the next premium Samsung phone still be offered in one dozen versions?
Indeed, over here in NL we're still stuck on 3G. LTE-Advanced will be a welcome addition, but of course only usefull for those on a carrier supporting it.
Still it'll be an interesting upgrade.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacBook Pro
I have been suggesting that Apple would use this technology (meaning the Qualcomm 360 Front End solution) for many months.
Here is a link to the product brief.
I wonder how this will impact Samsung. Will the next premium Samsung phone still be offered in one dozen versions?
Likely yes. The disparate versions are often imposed by the carriers rather than deliberately designed by Samsung. At least, this was the way it used to be. Quite possibly, Samsung has earned more sway now that they are the top alternative to the iPhone. I doubt that, however, Samsung's strategy is to sell their phones through as many carriers as possible. Apple is willing to wait until negotiations swing in their favor.
It's incredible how quickly speeds have increased since the first iPhone.
The four carriers with the largest subscriber bases in the United States are testing LTE-Advanced and at least two have announced plans to begin supporting LTE-Advanced in 2013.
The Qualcomm 360 Front End Solution should offer improved battery performance.
all the content is still virtualized and clouded so its not like the speed will be noticeable
i have 2 LTE phones i use daily and only get LTE speeds when doing a speedtest
Not really. VZW announced their commitment to LTE back in 2007, so it's not surprising that we're getting the current speeds and how much faster they'll get with LTE Advanced.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ifij775
It's incredible how quickly speeds have increased since the first iPhone.
Especially given how long it took for 3G to be widely available.
Sprint is also using LTE advanced. The Qualcomm RF360 would be an excellent choice and I really hope it is selected. There are just so many different spectrums and bands used all around the world. It is also excellent news for Sprint since the iPhone will now very likely support their LTE on all their frequencies which include 800MHz, 1.9 GHz spectrum, and 2.5 GHz spectrum. The 2.5GHz will use TDD-LTE Band 41. Sprint is currently deploying FDD-LTE in 1900 MHz Band 25 spectrum, where it holds two 5 MHz channels in the G band adjacent to PCS spectrum. Sprint's 800 MHz spectrum falls under Band 26, created when 3GPP merged several separate band classes--specifically 5, 18 and 19, which included portions of the 800-900 MHz range.
So an iPhone with this new chip could support bands 25, 26, and 41 which would be fantastic news.
Going by Apple's past products, they won't release this if it leads to poor battery life. Remember that when the first LTE phones were released, they got about 2.5 hours of life with LTE turned on—without even talking on them. I used to read posts from people saying that iPhone users were so lazy that they weren't willing to "manage their phones", as if that were a good thing.
I even did a test with a friend who had the first LTE phone, the model of which I've forgotten. We went to the same site. He, of course, was managing his phone by keeping LTE turned off. We attempted a fairly large download. I think it was about 20MB. We started at the same time, me with AT&T 3G, and him with Verizon LTE. By the time he got LTE turned on and locking to the network, going to the site and starting the download, I was half way through the download. By the time my download was finished, he was still in the process. Then he had to turn LTE off again, and wait for the phone to lock back to 3G.
Not very promising. When Apple came out with LTE, with 8 hours of talk time over LTE, it showed that waiting was a far better idea. There wasn't much LTE available back then anyway. And now, there isn't much LTE-A available yet.
As it said in the article, it works with all the older standards as well. No LTE? Then fallback to 3G.
I hope this chip is viable for Apple.
BEGIN means they might have a handful of towers in a couple of cities while everyone else is screwed. Particularly since most users don't understand that if they have LTE turned on their phone and little to no service at that level it will eat their battery.
You aren't required to download any more than you do now. This will just make accessing the web, and downloading more pleasant.
But there is one caveat, smartphones and tablets can't yet equal the speeds of notebooks and desktops in rendering those pages. You can try to download a page on your mobile device and a conventional computer at the same time. You'll find that your conventional machine is faster in getting that page set up.
This is great news! Just in time for AT&T to roll out LTE-A support in 2017 (for major cities... everywhere else, never mind).
Three years ago, the GSM standards were altered to allow that. We thought that it would be done for the iPhone's arrival on Verizon. But Verizon chose to not implement it, even though it's just a software upgrade.
I miss the capability, though most people don't seen to notice. I doubt Verizon is even thinking about it.
The Qualcomm 360 Front End Solution uses 28 nm process technology versus the Qualcomm 9615 as in the iPhone 5 which uses 40 nm process technology. Generally, 28 nm process technology provides an approximate benefit of 20% greater energy efficiency versus 40 nm process technology.
For some carriers who were "late" to adopt LTE the upgrade to LTE-Advanced is merely a software upgrade in many instances.