Apple to Wait Until at Least 2020 to Release 5G iPhones

[JtheLemur]

"5G" is complete ******** right up there with "blockchain". To quote my betters, "Saying 5G is a solution to any use case is like saying that higher horsepower engines are the solution to urban congestion." Apple is right to play it safe.

 

[jezbd1997]

Why does everyone keep saying they will use more data? You will use the same you always do, its just faster. Unless you start watching 4K video all of the time.

*copied from my reply to someone else*
A faster connection will ALWAYS = more usage. I remember some people saying usage won’t change between the transition from 3G-4G LTE...
But videos on facebook will load quicker etc, instagram loads quicker which in turn will mean looking for more content.
It will also open up possibilities for higher quality music and video on the go.
Edit: on top of that look how much our usage has gone up from between 3G-4G LTE, a massive amount. It shows that a higher speed will always mean more usage.

 

[cardfan]

Fine with me. Don’t plan to upgrade til then anyways. Don’t even want to imagine what carriers will charge. Faster data. But capped.

 

[Martyimac]

*copied from my reply to someone else*
A faster connection will ALWAYS = more usage. I remember some people saying usage won’t change between the transition from 3G-4G LTE...
Videos on facebook load quicker etc, instagram loads quicker which in turn will mean looking for more content.
It will also open up possibilities for higher quality music and video on the go.
Edit: on top of that too look how much our usage has gone up from between 3G-4G LTE, a massive amount. It shows that a higher speed will always mean more usage.

History does support you on this.

 

[vkd]

That's cos they don't wanna tarnish their name when they turn 5G on and all the birds die. When all the birds are already dead they will slink in.

 

[BornAgainMac]

In Apple years 2020 isn't that far away. They will likely still be selling the old 2018 Mac Mini in 2020.

 

[amaze1499]

Commercial deployment of the technology is scheduled for 2020 anyway. I figure it will take even a little longer to provide all areas with full coverage considering how long 4G is out there already.

 

[dude-x]

The main benefit of 5G isn't that it's really fast, but that it has very fast latency (typically 1ms). This will be a boon for gamers, and generally things will feel like a desktop on a wired fiber connection. 4G is plenty fast as it is, but latency is variable.

5G is licensed to operate at 3.5 GHz (microwave) and 24GHz+ (millimeter wave) bands. As a consequence of this new spectrum allocation, cell operators will have to install new towers, but at much greater density than before since mm wave is hardly penetrating.

One problem with 5G (and even existing cell tech) is that studies do show that rats showed a higher level of brain tumors and rare tumors. Other studies show effects in people, but it's in dispute. So if you have to put up a lot more towers to increase coverage, this doesn't seem like a great technology to deploy to the masses and then beta test the effects of this radiation on people.
--
Apple waiting till 2020 is fine since it's rolling out in 2019 in select cities, and they can observe the issues with early tech as they did with their 4G rollout.

 

[Baymowe335]

Classic Apple. Be the last one on the block to show up to the party, and charge the highest price for the honor.

Every product that could be out in 2019 is now pushed to 2020. Every other company will beat Apple to the punch.

"Think Different. Act much later."

Don’t forget:

“Tech that actually works.”

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

*copied from my reply to someone else*
A faster connection will ALWAYS = more usage. I remember some people saying usage won’t change between the transition from 3G-4G LTE...
But videos on facebook will load quicker etc, instagram loads quicker which in turn will mean looking for more content.
It will also open up possibilities for higher quality music and video on the go.
Edit: on top of that look how much our usage has gone up from between 3G-4G LTE, a massive amount. It shows that a higher speed will always mean more usage.

Lol, so let’s say you have 1,000 interactions on your phone per month, that each take 2 seconds less time now & free up that 2 seconds to do something else... that makes a grand total of another half hour of potential additional data usage in the same timeframe.
WOW!
Curses! This newfangled 5g is going to cost people a lot of $... geez that extra (hypothetical) 30 minutes will definitely blow through everyone’s data caps!
ROFLMAO.

 

[Dethklok]

This is what kept me on Android for years. They are so far behind with things like this. Just put the damn chip in the phone.

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

Oh I see the confusion here. It's rather simple, in 2020 the "5G" doesn't stand for the radio generation as one would expect, but rather how much their entry level phone is going to cost.

 

[Dethklok]

5G is meaningless. Burn through data caps faster. LTE is more than fast enough for anything a phone would need to do.

You're telling me that you've never been in a situation, like in an office building or something, where you're on the tail end of LTE (1 or 2 bars) and getting 1Mbps? More speed is always better.

 

[shanson27]

With extra cost $1300 instead of $1100

 

[lkrupp]

And for you 5G fans, just what do you plan to do with more speed on your little screens? It will still take the same amount of time to watch a movie or listen to music as it does now when streaming at the current LTE speeds. Downloading it faster won’t change a thing except. as others have pointed out, let you reach your data cap faster. The scenario I envision is 5G devotees standing around with their speed test apps comparing results while their lives don’t change. For me the allure of 5G comes in the form of fixed wireless installations in homes and businesses instead of cable or fiber. It’s a wet dream for providers like AT&T or Verizon in that they will no longer need employees to maintain a physical plant of wires, coax, and fiber to people’s homes. Antennas on homes served by a neighborhood transmitting tower for all encompassing Internet net access, that’s the ticket for 5G. Follow the money as always.

 

[ksec]

So 2022 will be 802.11ax?
[doublepost=1543847964][/doublepost]

802.11ax is already here and shipping now as we speak. 2019 should be the year it is widely available to consumer.

As far as I can tell, ALL current and upcoming so called 5G implementation around the world are based on NR mmWave. Which requires a line of sight for it to work, and you can guess, pretty much useless in most of your day to day use.

You want 5G in 3.5Ghz and lower end spectrum. And this isn't happening yet, these will likely start as early as 2Q 2019, assuming all the testing are good. So far from most of the report I have read on Real World testing, none of the LAA, MU-MIMO perform as good as advertise, i.e Lots more work and tuning to be done.

A lot telecom ( Actually all the major three, Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia ) equipment manufacture advertise their Hardware as 5G software upgradable. Assuming the contract can not be alter for better / newer alternative, most carrier are already upgrading their cell tower now and all the way through 2019 and 2020. And that is assuming everyone has their Cell tower connected via 10Gbps Fibre ( or more ), which is not true for many countries.

So it does make a lot of sense for Apple to support 5G in 2020. Because unless some miracle happen in the next 6 months, the initial 5G will be ... meh.

( I was expecting a lot from LAA, eLAA, MU-MIMO, NR FD MIMO, etc... but none of it so far perform as good as the Lab test and marketing slides. Much like the industry expert have been saying, 5G is an evolution more than revolution. and it is going to take a few more years to smooth out all the issues )

Edit: And I forgot to mention the crappy Antenna from Apple needs to get re-engineered.

 

[shareef777]

Forget 5G, or even LTE. I'm still waiting for 4G to be consistently available everywhere. I live and work in the Chicago area and have hit dead zones a lot while on ATT and more recently Tmobile.

 

[nburwell]

I'm pretty happy with T-Mobile data speeds, so I'm in no rush to get a 5G capable device. Apple generally aren't the first device makes to support new technology anyway.

 

[Mabus51]

"5G" is complete bullsh1t right up there with "blockchain". To quote my betters, "Saying 5G is a solution to any use case is like saying that higher horsepower engines are the solution to urban congestion." Apple is right to play it safe.

Agreed. I’m still waiting for high speed 4G in most areas. So who cares if a phone releases with a 5G modem if you can only practically use it in one spot. Carriers are slow to implement this stuff but are quick to bill you for it.

 

[skitidetdu]

Either if 5G is a thing 2019 or not won't stop competition to exploit it as a negative thing. Average Joe won't understand how it really is.

 

[HacKage]

Will this turn 4G into the mess that 3G is just now?

When 3G first came out, you could stream music and video no bother at all. Now when my iPhone shows 3G, it basically means I can make/receive calls, load basic website and do nothing else. It's like 3G is now what GPRS used to be, and GPRS is just calls etc.

 

[pmau]

I believe 5G is far more interesting at home.

Small devices with eSIM and low power consumption that do not require any additional setup besides scanning a QR code.
Just think about how independent these devices can act, how they could mash over distances etc.

If the power consumption of 5G is really that low, I don't care about the data rates.
IoT will explode once it gets adapted and carriers don't overcharge.

 

[Plutonius]

I wonder which will come out first ?

5G phones or the modular Mac Pro.

 

[barkomatic]

If Apple manages to improve its antennae design enough for the 2019 iPhone to pull in max 4G speeds then it might not make much difference. I usually don't need to download a movie to my iPhone when I'm on cellular--at this point.

However, since 5G service may also replace wifi networks--the usage pattern of downloading big files to mobile devices while at home or in the office will evaporate.

 

[BGPL]

How much 5G infrastructure can you really expect to have in 2019? Unless you live in one of the top 10 major US cities, I doubt you'll really see 5G in 2019 anyways.

Apple likes to be on the bleeding edge, only when they introduce their own new tech. When it comes to new tech that they didn't develop, they usually sit back and watch a generation figure out it's issues before they jump in. In this case, I don't think this is a bad thing, and 2020 will be the year I upgrade anyways.