The article is US centric. If I remember correctly there are several other countries that
are CDMA primary. Not that I travel that much but I would like to roam where ever...
This makes upgrading a showstopper for me. I own an unlocked 6s Plus and love the idea that I can use any carrier. I purchased my phone from Apple under their program that allows me to upgrade annually, if I choose to. Will the "Verizon" phone support the GSM protocol used by AT&T? Which one is Apple going to provide if I decide to upgrade to a 7 Plus?
I am an AT&T customer and have been for a very long time going back to the days when they were Cingular. Back in those days I had Verizon POTs service. Verizon's policies and customer were terrible. I will never go back to them. They use an outdated standard in CDMA which admittedly has superior range to GSM and provides better voice coverage, but few else across the globe use the standard. The Koreans do, along with a few third world nations, but nearly everyone else is on GSM. Only the Chinese use both extensively but it is far easier to swap out a SIM card in an unlocked phone than swapping CDMA service.
Verizon forced all of us who have no desire to use them to pay for CDMA support in the modems for Apple's iPhones. And Qualcomm uses those profits to pay for developing their Snapdragon processors which go into Android phones and directly compete with the iPhone. Why wouldn't Apple not want to move to a different supplier who does not compete directly with their premier product?
Intel has abandoned mobile chips altogether. They won't be using those profits to build products that will be competing with Apple. Wasn't it the reason Apple moved their fabrication requirements to TSMC from Samsung as Samsung used the profits from building A series chips to advance their own smartphones?
There are many T-Mobile and AT&T customers who would be interested in used iPhones. The number of customers on those networks exceeds those of Verizon and Sprint anyhow. With the combination of DirecTV and AT&T mobile offering unlimited data, all Verizon can do is react. They do nothing to benefit the consumer. They react primarily to the other wireless companies who actually provide consumer benefits. All they do is tout the superiority of their network which really isn't that much better than AT&T. The Sprint network has poor coverage. T-Mobile isn't actually that bad in their coverage and their data speeds are in fact, better than Verizon's.
I will ill purchase the AT&T version of the iPhone 7+ and frankly am happy it comes with the Intel modem. It won't be long before Intel builds a modem with CDMA support anyhow. With Apple's support and technical expertise, Intel's product will exceed QCOM soon enough.
CDMA in an LTE phone is ONLY for fallback when LTE Advanced/LTE data is unavailable, just like GSM is there for AT&T and T-Mobile fallback, so why does CDMA matter at all today, unless LTE is not as prevalent as carriers like Verizon & Sprint would lead you to believe on their networks. VoLTE is supposed to be the long term voice solution with all voice as just data essentially. Looks like the carriers aren't fully up to speed with their VoLTE offerings! I am looking forward to an LTE only network and no more fallback!
As a T Mobile customer who is more than satisfied, I have no intention of ever using my phone with a CDMA network.
This is not about iPhone buyers wanting to use CDMA networks. It's all about the resale value of your phone when you're ready to upgrade. A phone that supports every network and frequency worldwide is infinitely more valuable than one that is built for a specific carrier in a specific country.
Except the AT&T version is the same one sold throughout most of the world. The Verizon is also sold in China while Japan gets its own that is compatible with everything. Most Android OEMs also tailor to each carrier.
A problem that only .0000000001% of the users will care about
They'll care when the iPhone 8 comes out and they want to sell their 7; both they and their buyers will need to know what model it is and what it's compatible with.
I do. I'm on Apple's upgrade program. One of the biggest draws for doing this was having an unlocked phone so I wouldn't be tied to a specific carrier. I'm currently on AT&T. I'll be moving in a few months and will probably need to change to Verizon due to coverage issues. I already had to give up my first choice of color (Jet Black) unless I wanted to wait another week+ to preorder it, now it turns out my phone won't work if I need to switch to Verizon?
A problem that only .0000000001% of the users will care about, and of course the fake "potential iPhone buyer" that will decide to go to Android because this is inexcusable.
Everyone else is just moving on. People and journalists just trying to fabricate a conspiracy where this is none.
More than .0000000001% of the users will resell their phone after a few years, and then it can become a real issue
I prefer all the models to be compatible across the board because it makes it easier to sell when it's time to upgrade. Not to mention, it's nice that when my Verizon contract ends in December, I will be able to move to any other carrier I choose and keep my phone, depending on who has the best deal/coverage in my area. It would suck to know that I'd only have one alternative unless I wanted to pony up for a new phone.
I've been on AT&T since the iPhone 3G launch here in sunny Los Angeles, have no interest in switching carriers anytime soon.
Verizon was awful on billing, Sprint still has poor, almost no coverage where I live. I like T-Mobile, was a customer for a time but their coverage isn't as robust here in the Los Angeles area.
I prefer all the models to be compatible across the board because it makes it easier to sell when it's time to upgrade. Not to mention, it's nice that when my Verizon contract ends in December, I will be able to move to any other carrier I choose and keep my phone, depending on who has the best deal/coverage in my area. It would suck to know that I'd only have one alternative unless I wanted to pony up for a new phone.
But not only that, it limits the amount of carriers the current user can switch to.
And nobody is interested in switching carriers? Say you move from an area in which AT&T was great and Verizon sucked into an area in which the opposite is true.
Previously you would just get a SIM from Verizon and pop it in and you're good to go. Now you have to sell your AT&T phone, and purchase the Verizon one.
Comments
For a moment, I thought that there was a new, merged company for the iP7... AT&T&T-Mobile
Verizon forced all of us who have no desire to use them to pay for CDMA support in the modems for Apple's iPhones. And Qualcomm uses those profits to pay for developing their Snapdragon processors which go into Android phones and directly compete with the iPhone. Why wouldn't Apple not want to move to a different supplier who does not compete directly with their premier product?
Intel has abandoned mobile chips altogether. They won't be using those profits to build products that will be competing with Apple. Wasn't it the reason Apple moved their fabrication requirements to TSMC from Samsung as Samsung used the profits from building A series chips to advance their own smartphones?
There are many T-Mobile and AT&T customers who would be interested in used iPhones. The number of customers on those networks exceeds those of Verizon and Sprint anyhow. With the combination of DirecTV and AT&T mobile offering unlimited data, all Verizon can do is react. They do nothing to benefit the consumer. They react primarily to the other wireless companies who actually provide consumer benefits. All they do is tout the superiority of their network which really isn't that much better than AT&T. The Sprint network has poor coverage. T-Mobile isn't actually that bad in their coverage and their data speeds are in fact, better than Verizon's.
I will ill purchase the AT&T version of the iPhone 7+ and frankly am happy it comes with the Intel modem. It won't be long before Intel builds a modem with CDMA support anyhow. With Apple's support and technical expertise, Intel's product will exceed QCOM soon enough.
CDMA is what allows Verizon to have the best U.S. coverage map. Its still very important in many areas.
https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/hd-voice/
http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/verizon-to-shut-down-2g-cdma-1x-network-by-end-2019
So it's a moot point.
Verizon was awful on billing, Sprint still has poor, almost no coverage where I live. I like T-Mobile, was a customer for a time but their coverage isn't as robust here in the Los Angeles area.
Previously you would just get a SIM from Verizon and pop it in and you're good to go. Now you have to sell your AT&T phone, and purchase the Verizon one.