iPhone 5S to be a world phone again?

Technically, the iPhone 5 is still a world phone, and works in global GSM and HSPA+ bands.

irDigital0l said:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/22/qualcomm-first-global-lte-chip/

Also allows for thinner products with improved antenna performance, battery life and connection reliability.

Apple made the iPhone 4S a world phone for both GSM and CDMA networks. The iPhone 5 has different LTE versions.

Makes sense that they want to bring it back to a world phone.

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Already a world phone.

The only reason it makes since, is so that they have only a single SKU worldwide to manage.

irDigital0l said:

How about LTE?

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It would need to support 12 to 15 bands, which would make the transceiver and antenna system complex to the point of being cost-prohibitive. (There are more than 40 bands approved for LTE , although many aren't in use yet.)

Some perspective: A GSM/GPRS world phone needs to support only four bands.

irDigital0l said:

How about LTE?

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"World phone" and "supports all LTE bands" isn't the same thing. The 5 is a world phone even though it doesn't support every LTE band out there. You're looking for the phrase "global LTE" which is stated in what you linked in your own OP.

CoMoMacUser said:

It would need to support 12 to 15 bands, which would make the transceiver and antenna system complex to the point of being cost-prohibitive.

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Did you actually follow the link in the OP?

takeshi74 said:

Did you actually follow the link in the OP?

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Yes. I'm skeptical. There's no need to support 40+ bands when 12-15 will get you the vast majority of the world.

Also, this is a chip; it doesn't include antennas. No vendor is going to shoehorn 40 bands' worth of antennas -- from 400 MHz to 2.7 GHz -- inside a device. Space is already tight, and the battery and screen are atop the pecking order. All of the other components, including antennas, compete for what's left.

irDigital0l said:

How about LTE?

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Most of the world doesn't have LTE.

GSM: 2G and 3G, 3G HSPA+ covers 99% of the world

CDMA versions of most phones aren't compatible on other CDMA networks worldwide either.

CoMoMacUser said:

It would need to support 12 to 15 bands, which would make the transceiver and antenna system complex to the point of being cost-prohibitive. (There are more than 40 bands approved for LTE , although many aren't in use yet.)

Some perspective: A GSM/GPRS world phone needs to support only four bands.

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Wow, 40+ bands? This is getting stupid.

Yes, that would make the next iPhone a truly World LTE Phone, but Apple also needs to put LTE-Advanced inside their next iPhone (since most major carriers will start turning it on in the summer of 2013).

yeah said:

Yes, that would make the next iPhone a truly World LTE Phone, but Apple also needs to put LTE-Advanced inside their next iPhone (since most major carriers will start turning it on in the summer of 2013).

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Why?

You're saying 100mbps isn't enough for your handset? Really? You do realize most home broadband is only 1.5-20mbps...

I'd argue we didn't need more than the 14mbps HSPA+ for several more years.

yeah said:

Yes, that would make the next iPhone a truly World LTE Phone, but Apple also needs to put LTE-Advanced inside their next iPhone (since most major carriers will start turning it on in the summer of 2013).

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Can't be satisfied with what you have? 10mbps is more than enough on a mobile device like the iPhone, and the average LTE speeds of 20-60mbps on most LTE iPhone 5s are already far more than that.

Why do you need 'LTE-Advanced'?? You won't even notice the different in web browsing speed above 10mbps. It's overkill.

LTE Advanced won't do anyone a lick of good unless and until carriers drop their usage caps/overages.

I'd LOVE to see LTE Advanced on the next iPhone. But if we're still on the 2GB-5GB per month plan caps, that amounts to 7 minutes or less of total download time on a minimum-speed LTE-A connection. Per month. Assuming a 5GB plan.

If on 2GB: Under 3 minutes.

For me, that likely means that 99.998% of the time my iPhone is going to be downloading off Wifi anyway. My home 50Mbps connection is slower, sure, but at least I won't have to worry about paying an extra $10 for every 1.5 minutes of actual data usage.

Eliminate the caps though, and THEN LTE-A starts sounding useful. Maybe not so mcuh for tweeting or web browsing directly on the phone, but for heavy duty usages like tethering and hotspot sharing... maybe even replacing cable/fiber/DSL home internet connections. But not if it's going to cost more than the $40-$60 some pay for half that speed currently.

The carriers will never remove the caps for wireless technology. I do see them increasing the caps at some point. Maybe from 2GB to 5GB being a standard. I have unlimited data and I've never used more than 5GB.

The selection of LTE-A chipsets and infrastructure is still pretty limited. It would be tough for an operator to do a major rollout this year. And even if that weren't the case, operators are already struggling to get enough backhaul to each site for LTE. LTE-A would require an even bigger pipe.

Beeplance said:

Can't be satisfied with what you have? 10mbps is more than enough on a mobile device like the iPhone, and the average LTE speeds of 20-60mbps on most LTE iPhone 5s are already far more than that.

Why do you need 'LTE-Advanced'?? You won't even notice the different in web browsing speed above 10mbps. It's overkill.

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Well first, it was a suggestion. Second of all, many people need it (ex: Mobile Hot-Spot to play multiplayer games without any latency or lag, or to download large files in seconds or to handle many user's data needs). That's what LTE-Advanced is for.

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Menel said:

Why?

You're saying 100mbps isn't enough for your handset? Really? You do realize most home broadband is only 1.5-20mbps...

I'd argue we didn't need more than the 14mbps HSPA+ for several more years.

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It's called technology my friend. LTE-Advanced is needed for some users.

There won't be any LTE advanced this year. Most carriers still won't even be done with their initial LTE network rollouts by the end of this year.