Apple's brawny 5G iPhone family will require larger, pricey motherboards
Apple's first 5G iPhones are expected to rip movies, emails and photos down from the cloud at record speeds but that won't come without a price -- at least for Apple, where some components required to support the new spec may run a premium of up to 35%.
Sample 5G tower installed on the outskirts of a residential neighborhood
In a note to investors seen by AppleInsider, Kuo believes that the main logic-board on the 2020 iPhone 5G will have to grow by about 10% in area to accommodate the new technologies. That increase in area will come with a cost -- the board fabrication and some new antenna technology will force a 35% increase in cost to build that component.
The increase in the board size is related to heat dissipation from the 5G technology, and the circuitry related to connect to the new antenna technologies for 5G. This does not mean the entire phone will cost 35% more -- but the motherboard of the iPhone is a significant cost. Larger expenses are the A-series processor that will be placed on that board, and the OLED screen expected to be mounted on the device.
Suppliers expected to benefit from the larger logicboard are Avary, EMC, and AT&S. All three are existing Apple suppliers.
At present, 5G options in shipping phones are adding about an additional $400 to the price of an already expensive flagship phone, like the Galaxy S10. It isn't presently clear what impact the new technology will have on what appears to be an iPhone redesign with escalating construction costs from other components.
Kuo has previously said that the design will include a metal frame with a "more complex segmentation design, new trenching and injection molding procedures, and sapphire or glass cover assembly to protect the trench injection molding structure." Kuo goes on to claim the "metal frame and front and rear 2/2.5D glass are still used, but the metal frame surface will be changed to a similar design to the iPhone 4, replacing the current surface design."
Due to the changes, Kuo believes the cost of construction will increase for the metal frame by between 50% and 60%, while the glass case cost will go up between 40% and 50%. If tempered glass is used for the grooved cover, the metal middle frame and chassis cost could go up by 25% to 35% and 20% to 30% respectively.
According to Kuo's predictions, the new design will help improve supplier revenue and profitability, and could help increase shipments to 85 million units in 2020, 10 million more than the 75 million reckoned to happen in 2019.
Kuo also predicts the use of VCSEL rangefinders, time-of-flight sensors that offer both photo quality and augmented reality applications. There is also the suggestion of a smaller TrueDepth camera notch for the 2020 model, and a full-screen display for 2021.
Sample 5G tower installed on the outskirts of a residential neighborhood
In a note to investors seen by AppleInsider, Kuo believes that the main logic-board on the 2020 iPhone 5G will have to grow by about 10% in area to accommodate the new technologies. That increase in area will come with a cost -- the board fabrication and some new antenna technology will force a 35% increase in cost to build that component.
The increase in the board size is related to heat dissipation from the 5G technology, and the circuitry related to connect to the new antenna technologies for 5G. This does not mean the entire phone will cost 35% more -- but the motherboard of the iPhone is a significant cost. Larger expenses are the A-series processor that will be placed on that board, and the OLED screen expected to be mounted on the device.
Suppliers expected to benefit from the larger logicboard are Avary, EMC, and AT&S. All three are existing Apple suppliers.
At present, 5G options in shipping phones are adding about an additional $400 to the price of an already expensive flagship phone, like the Galaxy S10. It isn't presently clear what impact the new technology will have on what appears to be an iPhone redesign with escalating construction costs from other components.
Kuo has previously said that the design will include a metal frame with a "more complex segmentation design, new trenching and injection molding procedures, and sapphire or glass cover assembly to protect the trench injection molding structure." Kuo goes on to claim the "metal frame and front and rear 2/2.5D glass are still used, but the metal frame surface will be changed to a similar design to the iPhone 4, replacing the current surface design."
Due to the changes, Kuo believes the cost of construction will increase for the metal frame by between 50% and 60%, while the glass case cost will go up between 40% and 50%. If tempered glass is used for the grooved cover, the metal middle frame and chassis cost could go up by 25% to 35% and 20% to 30% respectively.
According to Kuo's predictions, the new design will help improve supplier revenue and profitability, and could help increase shipments to 85 million units in 2020, 10 million more than the 75 million reckoned to happen in 2019.
Kuo also predicts the use of VCSEL rangefinders, time-of-flight sensors that offer both photo quality and augmented reality applications. There is also the suggestion of a smaller TrueDepth camera notch for the 2020 model, and a full-screen display for 2021.
Comments
No, they really aren't. Carriers don't have the bandwidth, even if they nominally claim they have "5G" networks...
As for cost: all new technologies start with a price premium. My first desktop computer cost over $9,000 and my iPhone 6+ cost more than my grandson's Xr. Yes, the initial 5G phones will likely be pricey. That won't last long.
And besides, these days, for most people, phones don't get used for 1 or even 2 years and then discarded. Who wants to invest $1,000 in a phone that'll soon be obsolete? Only those who trade their's in every year.
Just saying.
It's going to be spotty coverage. It doesn't penetrate buildings well. Short distance. And, most of all, who needs that sort of speed on a phone? You're not going to watch a 2 hour movie any faster! Not to say some people won't have some reason to validate ridiculously fast speeds on a phone, but for 99% of us, isn't the existing 4GLTE system plenty fast? If the carriers just worked on filling in the dead spots for that, who needs 5G? The other day, on AT&T, I was getting 100 down/50 up. Why would I need anything faster on my iPhone?
And now, 5G devices will be more expensive, bigger, hotter, etc. Not convinced.
The 5G era will be a dramatic shift for the world.
Which provider are you on? Yes, data costs here is insane, but there's rumblings of "unlimited" offerings by Telus coming. The other carriers should follow. I'm on Bell and 16GB of data is still not enough for a month.
If the tradeoff for 5G is a hotter, bigger phone, it’s not the people buying LTE phones that are obsolete. The latter gets a phone with mature technology, long run times, runs, cooler, and is reliable. They will work well for a long time.
It’s the early adopters of 5G phones who are buying obsolete phones. They run hot - hot enough that some models have to turn off 5G to cool down in order to continue to work - and the availability is spotty. In 2021 or 2022, those 2019/2020 5G phone buyers are the ones who should be upgrading to more efficient 5G phones so they can have the same experience as LTE phone buyers, with whatever benefits 5G provides.