Apple unlikely to release first 5G iPhone until 2020 or later
While some rivals appear set to launch hardware with support for nascent 5G wireless technology in 2019 at some point, Apple looks like it's going to wait another year before making an iPhone that can use them -- like it did twice before.

Mockup with 5G logo on an iPhone XS Max
Bloomberg reports that Apple will wait until at least 2020 before it introduces an iPhone capable of being used on the new 5G carrier services. This would put it behind planned releases by Samsung and expected ones from China's Hauwei and Oppo.
Once again, the report isn't particularly new, nor is it revelatory. Instead, it backs up previous reports from other venues who previously claimed in early November that Apple will use Intel's 5G-capable 8161 modem in iPhones from 2020.
Bloomberg says sources reportedly familiar with the company's plans are claiming that it will be at least a year after 5G launches that Apple will get on board. It claims that Apple is repeating the way it waited to produce phones on 3G and 4G before. In those cases, Apple appeared to calculate that users would stay away from the faster networks until initial problems were solved.
"Apple has always been a laggard in cellular technology," Gartner analyst Mark Hung told Bloomberg. "They weren't much impacted in the past, but 5G is going to be much easier to market. If they wait beyond 2020, then I think they'll be impacted."
The analyst may be betting on rapid rollout of 5G across the United States, which is far from a certainty. While the carriers have started testing, and very limited rollouts of the technology, none are planning massive expansion until 2020 and later -- likely not coincidentally the timetable for Apple's deployment of the technology.
Similarly, when the iPhone originally launched on EDGE, there was only limited 3G coverage. Likewise, Apple wasn't first to market with 4G, and waited until the technology was more mature and more fully available when it finally shipped the technology on the iPhone 5.
However, the delay may be less about calculation and more about technology issues. Apple is currently in legal dispute with modem maker Qualcomm. While that Qualcomm is expected to release 5G-capable processors in 2019, Intel's equivalent won't ship until 2020.
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Mockup with 5G logo on an iPhone XS Max
Bloomberg reports that Apple will wait until at least 2020 before it introduces an iPhone capable of being used on the new 5G carrier services. This would put it behind planned releases by Samsung and expected ones from China's Hauwei and Oppo.
Once again, the report isn't particularly new, nor is it revelatory. Instead, it backs up previous reports from other venues who previously claimed in early November that Apple will use Intel's 5G-capable 8161 modem in iPhones from 2020.
Bloomberg says sources reportedly familiar with the company's plans are claiming that it will be at least a year after 5G launches that Apple will get on board. It claims that Apple is repeating the way it waited to produce phones on 3G and 4G before. In those cases, Apple appeared to calculate that users would stay away from the faster networks until initial problems were solved.
"Apple has always been a laggard in cellular technology," Gartner analyst Mark Hung told Bloomberg. "They weren't much impacted in the past, but 5G is going to be much easier to market. If they wait beyond 2020, then I think they'll be impacted."
The analyst may be betting on rapid rollout of 5G across the United States, which is far from a certainty. While the carriers have started testing, and very limited rollouts of the technology, none are planning massive expansion until 2020 and later -- likely not coincidentally the timetable for Apple's deployment of the technology.
Similarly, when the iPhone originally launched on EDGE, there was only limited 3G coverage. Likewise, Apple wasn't first to market with 4G, and waited until the technology was more mature and more fully available when it finally shipped the technology on the iPhone 5.
However, the delay may be less about calculation and more about technology issues. Apple is currently in legal dispute with modem maker Qualcomm. While that Qualcomm is expected to release 5G-capable processors in 2019, Intel's equivalent won't ship until 2020.
Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
Comments
Multiple vendors are rolling out 5G and, it appears that, the U.S. may be falling behind China.
But, most importantly, the stories are presented that "It will be delayed a year".
But, since most people keep their phones for 2-4 years, the impact on MOST iPhone customers will be far more than waiting "a year".
And that multi-year delay may have significant ramifications: We have seen that progress in communications technologies -- from T1 & copper dial-up lines to cable/WiFi to wireless to LTE -- have had some of the greatest impact on computing of any other factor. And, 5G has a potential to be one of biggest advances in that long history.
Is there any reason for this delay other than the U.S. - China security feud (thus blocking Chinese vendors) or the Apple-Qualcomm feud or Intel's incompetence? In other words, is there any valid (technical) reason for the delay? If the technology is there, why would Apple wait?
I for one would not want to spend a grand on a phone that is soon to be obsolete.
2) There are still 5G "standards" to shake out, as well as implementation details, because once again, we've got battling ideas from the carriers on what is best.
( Excerpt from the 5G Europe Action plan:)
It is interesting to compare this with USB C, though. Apple went all-in with USB C on the MacBooks, saying it was ‘the future,’ at the expense of compromising usability with current standards & equipment, yet they hold off on 5g....
We're not saying that this is Apple's best move. It is what it is, and it is not entirely unexpected.
USB 3.1 type C is a settled standard, and is still USB, just with a different physical connector. 5G isn't that settled.
I wonder how manufacturers that have released or developed phones already are planning on dealing with the issue of unsettled standards. If it’s simply a software/firmware issue the. It’s not really as much of a problem. If nota, there may be a lot of unhappy early adopters
Apple beats at its own drum. Fake news and biased opinions without any factual backup is what Reuter’s / Bloomberg have.
Companies sell hope of improvement rather than actual improvements.
For the record, my pathetic 1.4Mbps only started after T-Mobile began mixing in Sprints @#$& network. Maybe they’re thinking bringing both customers to 5G is easier than mixing in the Sprint garbage successfully.
Whatever the case, it’s not Apple/Intel hardware that’s the lowest common denominator...
This is just like the rollout of 4G. Apple waited until the iPhone 5 before adding 4G/LTE even though many other vendors had it much earlier (some even thought the iPhone 4 would have LTE simply because the numbering ‘4’ matches ‘4G’.)
I remember my iPhone 5 and how spotty LTE coverage was (I live in Vancouver, hardly a rural area). Even in the US a lot of markets didn’t have LTE when the iPhone 5 launched, let alone when the 4S or 4 launched. On my daily commute my iPhone was always searching for and switching between LTE and 3G, much to the dismay of my battery life. I left LTE turned off when I was commuting because of this and only enabled it when I was in a fixed location and I had a stable signal.
I suspect 5G will be the same and will take a couple years to be widespread. Further, 5G won’t have as much of an impact on users as the jump from 3G to 4G did.
5G will just be used as another irrelevant talking point to claim Apple is behind.