Apple Reintroduces mmWave 5G Antenna Window on iPhone 17 Pro Models in U.S.

[CoMoMacUser]

So basically, if we're in a major city downtown, it should be significantly better, but outside of that, it doesn't really matter? Thanks.

mmWave enables speeds that are overkill for most smartphone applications, so it doesn't matter from that perspective.

In a downtown or other dense-urban area, each cell site's coverage area is small compared to ones in suburbs and rural areas simply for signal propagation and network capacity reasons. That's been the case since the 3G days. So from a business perspective, it can make sense to go ahead and put mmWave on those sites anyway -- if the operator has mmWave spectrum licenses. Not all do.

mmWave speeds are a good fit for fixed applications, such as municipal surveillance cameras in a downtown or providing broadband for homes and smaller offices. The more potential customers there are in a given area, the better the chance of covering the cost of the site leases, base stations and backhaul and turning a profit.

6G will use terahertz spectrum, which is even higher than mmWave. That's going to be an even bigger challenge from both an engineering and a business perspective.

 

[Jack Burton]

Hold up, is that a real cellphone you still actively use today?

Ha! no. I had one ages ago back in 2007 or early 2008. It was so satisfying to flick open. It was a decent, reliable, pack of gum sized phone. I couldn't handle the tiny, well, EVERYTHING on that phone at my current age.

 

[ksec]

It is actually much better to have it at the top, which was the original intention in most mmWave demo phones provided by Qualcomm. I have no idea why it went to the wide instead.

mmWave is also not just a 5G tech, there is WiFi using mmWave. In the future you could have two smartphone sitting next to each other transferring data using MmWave. Transferring to a new phone using this method would only take a few minutes.

 

[Gengar]

Could be all of them. AT&T was the one that sucked the least after my tests a few years back. I was on Verizon when i was forced to try Visible (thinking well, at least if it sucks, it is less expensive than regular verizon), then Mint, then AT&T prepaid.

I got great signal on Verizon back on my samsung juke (which didn't do much, but at least the battery lasted a week!) at the same apartment before the rise of smartphones. Perhaps most 5g sucks where I live? Are the weaknesses of 5g bigger weaknesses in my specific location, etc?

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Verizon shut down their CDMA network a few years ago, which took a lot of solid coverage with it. A lot of people complained about poorer reception right after it happened.

 

[Gengar]

Yes. mmWave really serves no long-term purpose on a phone. better suited for fixed wireless (5g Home, etc.)

IDK about that. I have AT&T and T-Mobile and mmWave is great on AT&T in places like stadiums, airports, and Times Square (I connected to n260). T-Mobile has it in far fewer places, but I did connect to it at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (n258) when I went to Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour there back in July and I wouldn't say theirs performed any better than their midband 5G.

 

[grammatica]

 

[nateo200]

I like the location of the mmWave antenna on the 17 Pro! But...I wish I could get a physical SIM + eSIM version of the iPhone if it meant giving up mmWave. I heard they expanded mmWave models to other countries so I wonder how long until physical SIM is not a thing.

 

[GregJohn]

So now in Canada we will have this window but the components inside won’t work? (For example taking the iPhone to the states in a city it’s supported) -

 

[svish]

Don't think mmWave coverage is good and the presence of this antenna is not particularly going to improve connectivity. Apple might bring mmWave to all models globally when in house chips are used.

 

[juju90]

That’s Very Dangerous, why would they put that on the upper part of the iPhone next to our Heads ?? Smh too much radiation ☢️