Apple won't have gigabit downloads on 'iPhone 8' because of Intel modems - report
Although Apple already has access to Qualcomm modems with gigabit download speeds, it won't enable that bandwidth in upcoming iPhones due to its use of Intel chips as well, according to a report.
Intel is working on gigabit-capable modems, but they won't be ready in time for the "iPhone 8" and "7s" this fall, Bloomberg sources said on Friday. As with the iPhone 7, Apple is expected to use a split of Qualcomm and Intel modems, but throttle the performance of the Qualcomm parts to keep experiences consistent across devices.
Earlier this month a report claimed that Apple is shifting to a 50-50 mix of Qualcomm and Intel.
Apple could in theory return to using Qualcomm as an exclusive supplier, but the two businesses are locked in an intense legal battle over royalties. Apple has accused Qualcomm of withholding money, abusing its market dominance, and forcing chip buyers to sign licensing agreements.
Rival phones with gigabit speeds are already on the market, such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the HTC U11. Reduced bandwidth is unlikely to have any major impact on iPhone buyers this year, however -- 1 gigabit per second is the theoretical maximum of LTE Advanced and extremely rare, requiring perfect conditions, including compatible towers. It may become an issue as LTE-A becomes more commonplace and the industry eventually migrates to 5G technology.
Intel is working on gigabit-capable modems, but they won't be ready in time for the "iPhone 8" and "7s" this fall, Bloomberg sources said on Friday. As with the iPhone 7, Apple is expected to use a split of Qualcomm and Intel modems, but throttle the performance of the Qualcomm parts to keep experiences consistent across devices.
Earlier this month a report claimed that Apple is shifting to a 50-50 mix of Qualcomm and Intel.
Apple could in theory return to using Qualcomm as an exclusive supplier, but the two businesses are locked in an intense legal battle over royalties. Apple has accused Qualcomm of withholding money, abusing its market dominance, and forcing chip buyers to sign licensing agreements.
Rival phones with gigabit speeds are already on the market, such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the HTC U11. Reduced bandwidth is unlikely to have any major impact on iPhone buyers this year, however -- 1 gigabit per second is the theoretical maximum of LTE Advanced and extremely rare, requiring perfect conditions, including compatible towers. It may become an issue as LTE-A becomes more commonplace and the industry eventually migrates to 5G technology.
Comments
Bottom line: Does this actually affect anyone's bandwidth?
(EDIT: Nope. In New Orleans it's Sprint offering Gigabit service.)
Indianapolis will be the next ATT city to receive Gigabit service. Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco (supposedly a couple of others) will join the trials in the next few months.
Verizon announced Gigabit trial service in Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Bernardsville, N.J., Brockton, Mass., Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Sacramento, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. with other cities following later this year.
Worldwide there's 15 carriers in 11 different countries already offering Gigabit LTE. For instance Telstra is currently deploying it in Sydney, Australia. There's also another 47 carriers that have Gigabit systems in various stages of prep.
I don't live in an overcrowded metropolis, which also won't see these speeds even with the proper gear because there will be too many users.
I'd like to see a comparison of LTE vs LTE-A for a typical usage scenario and see if there's any real-world differences. For general web browsing, I don't expect much change, since many hosting providers aren't even at 1Gps rate yet, and there's lots of hops in between to negotiate. Where I could expect a nice boost is apps like Dropbox uploading your photos to your account. That should go much quicker on LTE-A, creating a much more seamless experience across devices.
Just like I'm convinced Qualcomm "loaned" $500,000 in high-end cellular radio test equipment to that no-name blogger to do that stupid test comparing Qualcomm modems to Intel modems and "concluding" the Intel ones were significantly slower.
Funny how there's only 3 articles on their site. One bragging about the Galaxy S7 being the first with MIMO (using the Qualcomm X12 modem), one about the Google Pixel (also using the Qualcomm X12) and the BS article comparing Qualcomm modems to Intel.
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/gigabit-lte-crazy-fast-wireless-speeds-explained/