Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's Plans to Release 5G iPhone in 2020 Could Be Stymied by Intel Delays
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Oh no. Until LTE VoIP was a joke and hardly worked. And stadiums? That's why the NFL built out WiFi and for cellular they use neutral-host Distributed Antenna System (DAS). No one is waiting on 5G. It makes no sense to wait on 5G, and they'll still need systems like this even when it matures.
Come back with at least one fact and we can have an intelligent discussion. Until then, hate on.
Is that a fact? No it's not.
What we know is that carriers will promote 5G like crazy and most of the interested Apple users will be told for at least a year that there's no phone from Apple that supports 5G. Without a doubt this will affect Apple negatively.
It is not more efficient than 4G at range or penetration if they are on the same frequencies. Rule of thumb - double the frequency gives you about 1/2 - 1/4 of the range at same antenna power.
And yes 5G might be SLIGHTLY faster at the same frequencies as 4G - but nothing ground breaking. To get the high speeds you need the MM-Wave frequencies.
But the infrastructure cost will go through the roof as you need lots of access points - each with backup power, dedicated lines for back-haul etc. Yes they can be smaller than current LTE 4G sites but you need a LOT of them to provide coverage. At least 16-32 times as many... If you then use wireless back-haul - then you fill up other 5G frequencies with traffic. Hurrahhh... Advantage is almost out the window
Then add ALL the extra man power to maintain all those new cells. Cells needs maintenance and looking after. Telco's also need to pay rent to have them on roofs or lamp posts etc.
5G is a cost monster.
5G roll out will also ONLY be in dense population areas. Everywhere else it will stay 4G.
Intel chips are not that good compared to Qualcomm. What Apple can do is the Moto Z3 route where they have a detachable case which give the phone the ability to use 5G. We might even see third party 5G battery cases if it’s possible on current iPhones.
History tells us that it’ll barely affect iPhone sales.
I don't think people will switch to Android for that reason alone, but many may stick with their old iPhones for another year waiting for 5G, not as bad as losing a customer over Android but still less phones sold.
I disagree with you. If you had said that wireless companies are rapidly building out major metropolitan centers, I would concur. Reality is LTE is still spotty in its coverage across the nation. Forget the wireless companies self serving coverage maps, the coverage is just not there. I speak from personal experience where 3G is the base and 4G available if you are are near the one tower that was finally upgraded. By the time 5G is available to all, the state of the art will be 9G. It is not evil intent but economics, still knowing does not help the disappointment.
Wow, that's outrageous!
My phone bill is 35eur (40usd) a month and it includes unlimited data in Nordics (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland) and Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) as well as 15GB/month data within rest of EU -- needless to say, max speed and not capped.
Also includes virtually unlimited calls (1200 minutes a month) and texting (1200 sms a month) but I don't use those so much anymore so it's not a big deal.
[doublepost=1554549909][/doublepost]
No, these are not OSX updates.
One mobile generation has lived long, see the 1G (1981) was the original one without data at all, and 2G data was only 9600 baud connection (1991). It took until 1998 to first test the 3G network and 2008 to test the 4G network -- so if it takes a decade to go one generation up what you are saying 5G is mainstream in 2050's.
Of course, the mobile network in EU/US is very much different than some other parts of the world...
[doublepost=1554550167][/doublepost]
Of course, because you need fiber optics to the cell tower to make it happen. Isn't so cost effective to implement in the rural areas, but that will eventually happen just like copper wires of 1844 Telegraph. Luckily the fiber can be retrofitted to most places where you already have copper, but it still costs a lot of money.
[doublepost=1554550597][/doublepost]
the ground-breaking thing would be much reduced latency and the network itself can serve more connections at a time. for now, think of it as an alternative to fiber connection, not an upgrade to mobile connection
Last edited:
Thank you for the history. I can see how you support your point about it taking a generation (10 years) between rollouts to become mainstream. if I understand your progression, 2008 to test 4G and 10 years to roll out would have 4G mainstreamed around 2018. Unfortunately, 4G has some coverage in Medium and large cities and along interstate highways but that's about it. It has not reached mainstream. It looks like it will be some years before it will achieve mainstream and I suspect that this slippage will continue in the future. Meanwhile 5G is beginning rollout. Per your observation, 2029 it should be near mainstream. I don't think it will take till 2050 for 5G to reach full coverage but who knows.
I'm not talking about users that would not switch anyway. Not every single iphone user is dedicated and loyal Apple fan.
Not every single person believes Apple deserves their patience and trust.
[doublepost=1554557702][/doublepost]
No it doesn't.
Sure, and the flip side is the masses may elect not to move to another phone manufacturer because they believe apple is the best for them. It's not an all or nothing and churn is inevitable.
Yes it does. There will be those who will switch due to a cell phone plan, but then again given the random nature of people, nobody knows how this will shake out. My guess, apple won't lose a beat.
Still LTE is faster than most people’s WiFi connection. I know people here probably have 100mbps+ fiber but North America average is around 30mbps, which is way slower than LTE when it works of course..
Actually there might be a much higher data cap or even no data cap at all with 5g if you have unlimited plan.. so there is that which would be the most beneficial for us all.. It basically means they won’t throttle down your connection to snail speeds when or if you go over a your limit of data for the month..
They aren't 3 years behind.
2019 will only have some early adopter 5G special versions of flagships that use an additional dedicated 10nm modem just for 5G which greatly reduces battery life. Going for 5G in 2019 is stupid, all manufacturers are aware of it, that's why they are just testing the waters.
2020 is going to be the start of major Android flagships rolling out with 5G directly integrated into 7nm+ SoCs.
With first Android flagships usually coming out in march, even 2021's iPhone would only be 1.5 years late.
Last edited:
Steve never said it 2G was better than 3G on the original iPhone. What he said was that the 3G chips available at the time were consuming too much power and 3G was not full roll out yet. This was true by the way. People were disconnecting 3G on their Android device as the battery was gone in 4 hours.
Regarding the iPhone4S, Steve didn't say anything because he did not unveil it, and he passed the following morning.
Well yeah it’s hard to know how long it will take for 5G to even be a thing. Apple might well be behind android in other areas but 5G is not one where it will matter just yet.
Note 10 will be 5G capable but i’m Sure won’t be able to be used to it’s full capacity for another year.
They had zero phone building experience and came out with a top class smartphone.
Apple only uses discrete 14nm modems and it doesn't greatly reduce battery life.
The current 5G discrete modems are already 7nm.
Apple always launches about 1.5 years after the Android makers.
Whether it was with 3G, 4G and now 5G the reasons are always the same; coverage isn't there, battery life is horrible.
Of course, I would have preferred to get an iPhone with 5G at the end of this year but I'd rather get a very good 4G phone with an existing network. I am happy to wait one more year and swap my phone then.
I just called my operator of choice (o2 in the uK), and they're not planning to launch before late this year or early next, so I am in no rush at all.
Whether it was with 3G, 4G and now 5G the reasons are always the same; coverage isn't there, battery life is horrible.
Of course, I would have preferred to get an iPhone with 5G at the end of this year but I'd rather get a very good 4G phone with an existing network. I am happy to wait one more year and swap my phone then.
I just called my operator of choice (o2 in the uK), and they're not planning to launch before late this year or early next, so I am in no rush at all.