Is the Verizon iPhone going to be different hardware?

[bryanc28]

It is going to certainly tick a lot of AT&T customers if they change things. I.E., fix the antenna, change the design.

 

[rgarjr]

who knows, they probably wont release it until the next one.

 

[ssdeg7]

I.E., fix the antenna, change the design.

I don't think so, we'll have to see.

 

[Bonsai1214]

heaven forbid you buy a case or hold it by not cupping the bottom of the phone.. yes, its a hardware issue, but it can easily be avoided.

 

[scaredpoet]

IF the iPhone 4 comes out for Verizon (and they don't do an "iPhone 5" or "iPhone LTE" that they also sell everywhere else) then the internals will have to be different. No doubt it's going to have the same retina display, RAM, CPU, camera, WiFi and other things. But the cellular baseband portion will have to be different. Instead of the GSM/HSPA chipset, a Verizon iPhone will need a CDMA Mobile Station Modem (MSM) to work on that network. There's a good chance the antenna will have to be configured differently too, or else the performance might be worse on CDMA without a redesign.

Different network designs require different RF designs in the phones. To make it work right, it's inevitable.

Which brings another question: is this going to be a CDMA only phone, or a "global" CDMA phone with GSM/HSPA capability? If the latter, you can bet Verizon might've tried to convince Apple to do what they had RIM do with their global Blackberries: disable the North American GSM bands (850/1900 MHz) and allow only the "international" bands for roaming (900/1800/2100 MHz).

 

[NathanA]

There's a good chance the antenna will have to be configured differently too, or else the performance might be worse on CDMA without a redesign.

Not so sure about that. At least, in the U.S., the CDMA2K/EVDO carriers are using the same bands that the GSM/UMTS carriers are using (800MHz if they have an old cellular "A" or "B" channel license, otherwise 1900MHz "PCS"), with the exception that I don't know of any CDMA2K providers OR phones that use the "AWS" band that T-Mobile uses (1700/2100MHz), which the current iPhone doesn't support/isn't tuned for anyway. So I don't see why the antenna would have to be touched in the redesign for EVDO.

Everything else you said was spot-on, though.

-- Nathan

 

[GolpherZX]

Why would it matter if it upsets those ATT customers. They are going to get an update in 6 months anyhow. Many cell makers do this on their phones. It is either upset ATT folks or upset VZW folks. No one is going to be happy at some point in time.

 

[shadowbird423]

IF the iPhone 4 comes out for Verizon (and they don't do an "iPhone 5" or "iPhone LTE" that they also sell everywhere else) then the internals will have to be different. No doubt it's going to have the same retina display, RAM, CPU, camera, WiFi and other things. But the cellular baseband portion will have to be different. Instead of the GSM/HSPA chipset, a Verizon iPhone will need a CDMA Mobile Station Modem (MSM) to work on that network. There's a good chance the antenna will have to be configured differently too, or else the performance might be worse on CDMA without a redesign.

Different network designs require different RF designs in the phones. To make it work right, it's inevitable.

Which brings another question: is this going to be a CDMA only phone, or a "global" CDMA phone with GSM/HSPA capability? If the latter, you can bet Verizon might've tried to convince Apple to do what they had RIM do with their global Blackberries: disable the North American GSM bands (850/1900 MHz) and allow only the "international" bands for roaming (900/1800/2100 MHz).

Well said.