Images of Chinese iPhone Surface, Regulatory Approval Granted

[Glideslope]

But it is proof that Apple is willing to make a non-GSM version of the iPhone.

I read so many posts on here where members are just blasting others with that argument. Talking about how Apple won't make phones for dead technologies like CDMA and that GSM and LTE are the future and that's all we'll ever see.

I hope this shuts those people up.

Yes, unfortunately it will not shut them up. You will see a Verizon CDMA iPhone. As well as Verizon ending some of it's BlackBerry exclusivity.

Better to end exclusivity and keep what you can of the market, than have the Feds come in a screw the entire system up.

 

[Jodlesx]

So after 10 years it will start leaking plutonium or something? Hehe

....It's weird we buy products today that are so technologically advanced knowing they will probably break in some way in the least 3-4 years (I would say for a laptop at least) if not sooner.

They're not designed to last, so that we have to buy new ones. I have an old Nokia from the nineties. Talk about quality product, it still works, and functions as a hammer as well. Haha.

In Norway we have a law saying that if a product breaks in less than two or five years - which the Norwegian Consumer Counsil believes *should* last at least two or five years, it has to be repaired or replaced free of charge (with either the same product, or a smiliar/better). They just decided that all mobile phones should last 5 years. Mobile phone companies not happy.

Although most Norwegians either don't know about this/take use of this, or - more commonly - wants a new phone after 5 years anyway.

 

[SFStateStudent]

Battery life looks pretty poor in those pics; but I guess that's normal isn't it?

 

[Stephen123]

Looking at a 10 year environmental safety certificate and thinking it implies some form of danger or planed obsolescence is just weird. Guaranteed to be safe for 10 years is entirely different from certain to be dangerous after 10 years or expected to break after 10 years.

 

[pika2000]

Yes, unfortunately it will not shut them up. You will see a Verizon CDMA iPhone. As well as Verizon ending some of it's BlackBerry exclusivity.

Because this iPhone is no different than any other iPhone. WCDMA = UMTS, not EVDO.

 

[yg17]

Yeah, the confusion here between CDMA and WCDMA is a misunderstanding of what CDMA is.

CDMA is Code Division Multiple Access. It's basically a way to split a radio frequency up so multiple devices can use the frequency and send and receive their own set of data. GSM (2G) uses TDMA, or Time Division Multiple Access, which achieves the same thing. Neither TDMA or CDMA are specifically cellular phone technologies,

The confusion here is that what Verizon and Sprint use is called CDMA2000, which is the cellular phone technology that happens to use CDMA to transmit data. But people refer to it as just CDMA, which causes confusion. UMTS uses WCDMA to transmit data (which is wideband CDMA, just a CDMA technology designed to carry more bandwidth) but has no relation to the CDMA2000 technology Verizon uses.

A decent analogy is that CDMA is like a copper wire. You can put pretty much anything you want across that, electricity, analog audio signals, digital data, etc. Well, you can put anything across CDMA (CDMA2000, UMTS, and other wireless communication technologies)

 

[Bjohnson33]

Yeah, the confusion here between CDMA and WCDMA is a misunderstanding of what CDMA is.

CDMA is Code Division Multiple Access. It's basically a way to split a radio frequency up so multiple devices can use the frequency and send and receive their own set of data. GSM (2G) uses TDMA, or Time Division Multiple Access, which achieves the same thing. Neither TDMA or CDMA are specifically cellular phone technologies,

The confusion here is that what Verizon and Sprint use is called CDMA2000, which is the cellular phone technology that happens to use CDMA to transmit data. But people refer to it as just CDMA, which causes confusion. UMTS uses WCDMA to transmit data (which is wideband CDMA, just a CDMA technology designed to carry more bandwidth) but has no relation to the CDMA2000 technology Verizon uses.

A decent analogy is that CDMA is like a copper wire. You can put pretty much anything you want across that, electricity, analog audio signals, digital data, etc. Well, you can put anything across CDMA (CDMA2000, UMTS, and other wireless communication technologies)

Great post! Thanks very much for the info.

 

[MadMacxxx]

Is that the final product?

The finish on the rear leaves a hell of a lot to be desired… and as for the printing. *ouch*

Yea, I'm wondering the same thing....

You are accessing information that is detrimental to the survival of the Glorious Nation of China. How would you like to be executed?

"Hung" "Shot"

I'm surprised the back doesn't say:

"Designed by Apple in California. Made by you here."

 

[Rot'nApple]

Wonder how many subscribers Apple'd get with a Chinese iPhone.

Wonder how many iPhone knock off there will be intertwined with legit Apple iPhones?

 

[MacFly123]

This is going to be HUGE for profits!

The other carrier with 471 million subscribers blows my mind! WOW! Too bad they are the odd one out now. That would have been INSANE for sales. Soon maybe.

Yes, unfortunately it will not shut them up. You will see a Verizon CDMA iPhone. As well as Verizon ending some of it's BlackBerry exclusivity.

Better to end exclusivity and keep what you can of the market, than have the Feds come in a screw the entire system up.

So this WCDMA China iPhone would work on Verizon??? That would be interesting!

 

[azshopper]

WCDMA (UMTS) is a popular system around the world. Verizon uses CDMA2000 which is only deployed in a smaller scale around the world. It's a hardware difference so there is no software hack can be done in the current iPhone. The easier way would be hacking the latest Verizon phone like HTC Touch Pro with OSX

It's ashame that Verizon uses a total different system than AT&T. It was intended to avoid competition but AT&T did the right thing when they switched from TDMA to GSM...

So what exactly is the difference between WCDMA and CDMA? Can it be modified via a hack to support standard CDMA?

 

[azshopper]

Nope, this Chinese iPhone won't work with Verizon.

In the same horizon, Palm pre released the Verizon first which makes the UMTS/GSM customers waiting their version.

This is going to be HUGE for profits!

The other carrier with 471 million subscribers blows my mind! WOW! Too bad they are the odd one out now. That would have been INSANE for sales. Soon maybe.



So this WCDMA China iPhone would work on Verizon??? That would be interesting!

 

[iphones4evry1]

Just one more huge step as iPhone continues to take over the world.

What Microsoft did to computers in the 1990s is what the iPhone is doing to cell phones as we speak.

 

[kdarling]

So what exactly is the difference between WCDMA and CDMA? Can it be modified via a hack to support standard CDMA?

Not through a hack. They use different bandwidths, number of frequencies, and different control packets. WCDMA chipsets also require 3x the clock speed. However, they share a common origin.

======
The CDMA protocol allows more users, and higher data speeds than the TDMA protocol, which is why most GSM carriers chose to upgrade to WCDMA for 3G.

However, this meant that GSM carriers had to add CDMA radios from scratch to get 3G capability, which cost more and has taken much longer to do, in the USA especially. It was not a natural upgrade.

A main reason we see far more Verizon 3G coverage, is because they were already using a CDMA air interface, and often only had to upgrade software and some radio submodules to get 3G speeds. It was a natural progression.

=======

LTE will be a big change again, but this time for both kinds of cell carriers, as LTE is radically different from either, and is not a natural progression for either.

 

[panamajack]

But it is proof that Apple is willing to make a non-GSM version of the iPhone.

I read so many posts on here where members are just blasting others with that argument. Talking about how Apple won't make phones for dead technologies like CDMA and that GSM and LTE are the future and that's all we'll ever see.

I hope this shuts those people up.

Nope!

You realize that China Unicom has 3X the subscribes on GSM/UMTS as compared to CDMA etc.... with China U's long term plans abandoning their CDMA business to China Telecom?

 

[kdarling]

Nope!

You realize that China Unicom has 3X the subscribes on GSM/UMTS as compared to CDMA etc.... with China U's long term plans abandoning their CDMA business to China Telecom?

Even without China Telecom CDMA users, there's still plenty of reason to support CDMA:

China Unicom has 140 million GSM subscribers.

There are 153 million CDMA subscribers in North America alone.

And I'd bet that far more subscribers in North America can afford an iPhone and its associated data plan. But of course, there's that pesky exclusivity contract.

 

[Minimoose 360]

$$$$$$$



Unidentified flying dollar signs have just appeared over Cupertino after the announcement...true story.

 

[yg17]

So this WCDMA China iPhone would work on Verizon??? That would be interesting!

No, did you not read the thread?

The iPhone 3G and 3GS sold here are WCDMA iPhones, except its called UMTS or 3G here. I'd guess it says WCDMA on the Chinese iPhone because that's the terminology they use over there in that part of the world as opposed to 3G, but I'd imagine the guts of the Chinese iPhone are identical to those of iPhones sold everywhere else.

It shares absolutely nothing in common with the CDMA2000 protocol Verizon uses except they both use CDMA as a transport medium, but saying that a WCDMA iPhone would work on Verizon because they're both CDMA is like saying a Yugo could fly like a fighter jet because they both use fuel.

 

[SandynJosh]

So after 10 years it will start leaking plutonium or something? Hehe

Yes, my son, it is so. Just set the clock ahead ten years and see.

Imagine China, ten years hence, as small mushroom clouds dot country side by the millions. They're doomed, I tell you, DOOMED!

 

[twoodcc]

now this will be great for apple and the iphone. apple needs this to happen

 

[askiboot]

Numbers Next To the Battery

It appears to have numbers next to the battery level indicator. Remember all those rumors about how maybe we could finally have our battery in numbers surfaced before the launch of 3.0, Could we finally be getting the numbers next to the battery in a future update?

 

[Drag'nGT]

lol at the comments in here.

But, does this mean that a CDMA Verizon version isn't too far fetched of an idea now?

 

[yg17]

lol at the comments in here.

But, does this mean that a CDMA Verizon version isn't too far fetched of an idea now?

NO!

Read the thread! This is the exact same bloody iPhone as what's being sold in the rest of the world. WCDMA has nothing to do with the CDMA Verizon uses.

 

[Marlor]

lol at the comments in here.

Yeah, racism and totally flawed cultural stereotypes are absolutely hilarious.

ROFLMAO.

 

[Thex1138]

Pond Skipping...

Hmm here's a thought.... was the Chinese version of the iPhone simply an exercise in pond skipping rather than anything major?
Or a kind of broadsheet gap filler prior to the next 'global' cycle...
Like technology of convenience.
The tear down of the Chinese variant will show us no doubt as to wheather the board was designed to allow easy removal of the wifi chipset...
Technically speaking...how easy would it have been to remove the wifi capable, chipset wise, from the main board of the phone?
Perhaps that was the whole point of this cycle...

Next cycle will be the most exciting hardware wise.