Apple Sets 'Aggressive' 2022 Deadline to Bring Custom 5G Modems to iPhones

[routine_analyst]

2022? Intel had been working on the 5G modems already. To state they have to complete the "entire process" from design to fabrication to certification in only 2 years makes me wonder what exactly Intel had for Apple to buy the modems business.

 

[jkozlow3]

I don't get all the moaning about not having 5G - I see it on many forums for all brands. I'd be delighted if I ever managed to get 4G reliably.

Where do you live and who is your carrier that you don't get 4G/LTE reliably in 2019??? I've had nothing but LTE for 3 years with Verizon in multiple markets that I've lived in and traveled to during that time (I travel all over the U.S. for work). The only time I ever see 3G is for a few minutes in a parking garage, etc.

Sounds like it's time for you to move or switch carriers! 🤣

 

[jkozlow3]

Even in 2022 the 5g coverage will most likely be still so spares who cares. I honestly believe that 5g wont become relevant for another half a decade.

No way. 5+ years to reach "relevance"? 5G will start to become relevant in 2020. No, it will not 100% replace 4G LTE, but that's not the goal - at least not anytime soon. But that doesn't mean it won't be relevant. Initially, 5G will bring huge benefits and relevance in dense and crowded cities (i.e. downtown areas) as well as crowded locations (airports, stadiums, etc.) where 4G LTE speeds can come to a crawl today. Those 5G benefits will start to happen in 2020.

 

[johnsc3]

Who exactly cares about USB C port on iPhone ? I can’t see any advantage in leaving lightning now.
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☝🏿 Agreed. I’m wondering if there would be a lightning 2. It wouldn’t be out of ‘character’ for them to do so.

 

[Mighuel]

Okay, faster is almost always better, but what’s the game changing real-world application? Surely there’s something more important than just faster downloads of your favorite movies to your phone.

One of the wildest use cases they have for 5G is a surgeon doing an operation remotely. That requires a very stable and fast connection and also extremely low latency one. Remote surgery is possible even today with an optical fibre connection etc. but 5G makes it viable option in places where solid wired connection is not available.

 

[shpankey]

Honest question. What is the main advantage of 5G? Is it simply speed?

There are several, but latency is one of the biggest improvements also. 5g will be a big deal over the next f3w years and beyond.

 

[atmc]

5G won’t be all about very high frequency 26+ GHz. There will also be low and mid frequency 5G, with bands like 600MHz and 3.6Ghz (as an example). Those bands will allow for carriers to increase coverage much more quickly than if they use 26GHz very high frequency, and they will still be an improvement over 3G and 4G.

I think people are way too excited about 26+ GHZ 5G and are underestimating the advantages of low and mid frequency 5G. It will allow for faster internet access in rural areas (where 3G and 4G currently struggle) and it allow for data connection to be more reliable in big cities.

I really hope that Apple puts these low and mid frequencies 5G in the iPhones as soon as possible, as carriers will start to invest less and less in 3G and 4G to invest more in low-mid 5G.

very high frequency 5G? Yes, that will take like half a decade to be functional. But 5G is much more than that.

people that say that they want more reliable 4G: that’s exactly what 5G low-mid frequency is for. It will give you more reliable connection, with slightly higher speed, and generally the same coverage as 4G, but not as epic fast as very high frequency 5G, but also not with the disadvantages of the coverage and penetration of very high frequency 5G.

 

[atmc]

I agree that it isn't exactly pointless.


And I agree with this, and judging by everything I have been reading about it, 5G mobile will never be as widespread as 4G.


This is were I have to disagree.

5G has huge disadvantages to 4G.

I would call 5G Mobile a different technology than 4G, and its uses will be different that 4G, but to say it is a huge upgrade to 4G implies that it is better that 4G, which in many ways it is worse.

what disadvantages? You can have 600MHz 5G which will have at least the same coverage and penetration of 700/800MHz LTE. 5G is so wide in terms of frequency spectrum that it can simply replace 3G and 4G’s current bands, being more stable and a bit faster. And it also can be in the very high frequency side with much higher speeds but with coverage issues.

 

[The Oak]

There is nothing saying they could not do the same that they did with Intel and Qualcomm.

They could use their new Apple chips in the USA for GSM ... and then CDMA and internationally use Qualcomm.

And then slowly as the Apple chips get certified country by country, they replace the following year(s).

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

We live in a world where almost every computer has a USB-C power cable so....

I don’t think you completed that thought, boss! =)

here, I’ll take a stab:
“so.... considering the fact that the PC market has declined for like a decade & seems to be in no danger of a sudden comeback, it’d probably be outlandish to base what hardware people have on their mobile devices on what connectors are currently supported hardware in essentially a dying market segment”.

Not sure if that’s the way you were headed, but that’s all I got... *shrug*

 

[AustinIllini]

I don’t think you completed that thought, boss! =)

here, I’ll take a stab:
“so.... considering the fact that the PC market has declined for like a decade & seems to be in no danger of a sudden comeback, it’d probably be outlandish to base what hardware people have on their mobile devices on what connectors are currently supported hardware in essentially a dying market segment”.

Not sure if that’s the way you were headed, but that’s all I got... *shrug*

You're literally on an island by yourself if you don't understand why users want all their devices on one modern connector standard.

All the big computer companies deliver power through USB-C. This includes Apple on both the iPad Pro (which is the direction Apple is going) and MacBooks.

Don't put words in other people's mouth (especially when they're your out of touch takes)

 

[Nipommu]

I know we will get 5G, we need 5G eventually and its gonna happen. But its not a selling feature and I couldn't care less about 5G. Like really, I just don't care. I know it'll happen and it SHOULD happen for tech advancements. But I don't care about it. 5G = what...ok...just make it happen already...or not....I don't give two poops

 

[class77]

I care more about the Qualcomm modems themselves, not just the 5G portion. My experience with Intel modems has been poor and gave me problems I never had with the Qualcomms, especially inside of buildings and in weak coverage areas.....I do not look forward to Apple resurrecting Intel modems in a few years.

 

[AustinIllini]

I care more about the Qualcomm modems themselves, not just the 5G portion. My experience with Intel modems has been poor and gave me problems I never had with the Qualcomms, especially inside of buildings and in weak coverage areas.....I do not look forward to Apple resurrecting Intel modems in a few years.

That's fair, but Apple's recent history with mobile chips indicates you shouldn't worry because Apple chips are the mobile standard. iPhone 11/11 Pro is the fastest single core mobile computer in Apple's history.

I know radios are different but I like to believe Apple can handle a 5G chip

 

[MoreRumors?]

I don’t think 5G will be widespread in 2022 so Apple should not feel the need to be aggressive in getting it ready by then. If the main and sole reason is to stop buying Qualcomm, then I can understand.

 

[Smearbrick]

I get the feeling that if Apple already had 5G phones, and it was Samsung lagging behind, the Apple fans would jump all over Samsung for being so terribly behind. But, because it’s Apple, suddenly everyone is still ok with something as simple as 3G. Crazy how that works.

 

[pika2000]

I think there is a good reason for this.

The 5G mobile maps will look horrible when compared to 3G or 4G maps.

Of course it is. Its extremely limited range should be an obvious clue. Thus 5G is more of a marketing ploy, and majority of people are falling for it.
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I don’t think 5G will be widespread in 2022 so Apple should not feel the need to be aggressive in getting it ready by then. If the main and sole reason is to stop buying Qualcomm, then I can understand.

I don’t want to have an iPhone with poor battery life just because of 5G. Just bring me stable gigabit LTE first. In many parts of the world, actual LTE speed is not even fully realized. I’m sure majority of people here wanting 5G are not even in 5G coverage area. They just fell for the marketing ploy of carriers.

 

[Wanted797]

I don't know if these health concerns about 5G are true, or just weird hyperventalation, but a 2022 date for it at least gives some time for the technology to be sorted out and vetted before it shows up next to our ears.

They’ve said the same about every G since the first phone tower went up...

 

[Wanted797]

While more speed for a single device likely wouldn't be noticed if you already have a good 4G even a really good 3G connection. The real advantage is you aren't the only person connecting. The 5G tower can handle more load. So, while all your neighbors are streaming Netflix on their phones, ditching hardlined internet for their house, adding more smart devices. The network can better handle the expected increase in load.

THIS. Anyone saying ‘I’d don’t need 5G’ don’t understand the technology. It’s not for you. It’s for the network. We have millions of devices and even more that are being built with connection.

When 4G was setup we didn’t have as many. If Amazon and pizza places work out drone delivery that’s one example of millions more devices we need to connect to a high speed stable network. That’s what 5G is about. Not just your slightly faster Netflix connection.

 

[MartyvH]

From a consumer point of view, all the more reason to stick with good working phones now instead of thinking that this year's iPhones are the bee's knees.

 

[scaramoosh]

Does anyone remember when we just had 3G? Or HSPA+ was it? I was getting the same speeds as I get on 4G today, the technology changed nothing, however I noticed they throttled the 3G speed to be slower after 4G came out lol.

I have a 5G V50, I do not get 5G anywhere lol, I'm going to guess it'll be another couple years before I see it.... and I'll be skeptical when it does come. I reckon it wont be faster, and I reckon the Networks will decide to charge more for it... EE already are charging crazy prices. However I switched to Three who are reasonable with it right it... probably because you cannot find it lol.


It is late, I expected it in 2020, but I'm not going to buy an iPhone anyways, they're too expensive now.

 

[Oraichu]

First we need better carrier caps / Unlimited caps as a standard for this to even matter. If I used 4G freely already I'd finish the cap within a few hours. Just watch some videos and download some apps.

Of course certain countries have unlimited already, but many unlimited only deliver high speed within a cap, then it's slow speed for the rest "unlimited". Also the true unlimited tends to be very highly priced many places.

 

[JulianL]

I wonder whether, if correct, this rumour means no Apple-designed modem in an iPhone until ("aggressively" according to the article) 2022 or whether an Apple-designed modem chip might drop in 2021 as had been previously rumoured but it would be the 2022 refresh (second generation) of the Apple modem chip in the 2022 iPhone when it supports 5G.

Like quite a few others have said I'm not that fussed about 5G, even 3G was OK for me for phone usage let alone 4G, but I do look forward to seeing an Apple designed modem to see whether Apple can inject some of the same magic that has made the Apple-designed A-series so great.

With modem design in-house I wonder how much improvement in performance and/or power efficiency Apple can bring to that aspect of the iPhone by being able to fine-tune the on-chip stuff to the exact antenna properties of whichever iPhone it's going into and possibly using some of the techniques Apple has already developed for the A-series in terms of aggressive power and clock gating, the superb architecture for its low power cores etc (I assume existing Qualcomm and Intel modems have some sort of on-chip CPU power) to reduce power consumption. Apple might even be able to look at co-packaging the modem chip with something like the new U-series chip to reduce PCB size.

Once Apple's modem design teams get fully integrated and able to benefit from expertise already developed within Apple I think there might be some really exciting gains to be had from Apple getting full control of this part of the design. I really hope we don't have to wait until 2022 to see the first M-series chips (or however Apple is going to name them) in an iPhone, I'd love to see a 4G Apple-designed modem earlier to see what Apple can deliver.

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

With that timeline I can imagine intels 5G development wasn't even in prototype stage...

5G won’t be all about very high frequency 26+ GHz. There will also be low and mid frequency 5G, with bands like 600MHz and 3.6Ghz (as an example).

We were promised the same for 4G. 700MHz LTE to be precise to close the "white spots on the map".
Apart from that, 5G isn't a huge step forwards for phones or end-customers such as the average smartphone user.

 

[manu chao]

Apple is on borrowed time, they know this and are adding custom chips in MacBook to take over tasks that the x64 would handle to control what hardware macOS can be installed on as more and more pro Mac users jump ship to running macOS on none Apple hardware as Apple products are cheaply built prone to failure and are heavily overpriced.

Sure, and next year is going to be the year of Desktop Linux.
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I wonder whether, if correct, this rumour means no Apple-designed modem in an iPhone until ("aggressively" according to the article) 2022 or whether an Apple-designed modem chip might drop in 2021 as had been previously rumoured but it would be the 2022 refresh (second generation) of the Apple modem chip in the 2022 iPhone when it supports 5G.

By some measure, iPhones already have 'Apple-designed' modems in that they have Intel-designed modems and Apple is in the process of buying Intel's modem division. If Apple wanted to stick with 4G modems until its own 5G modems were ready, it wouldn't have needed that multi-year agreement with Qualcomm.
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