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No WiFi AC??????

A

Apple Fan 21

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 29, 2012
167
0
Why no wifi AC in the new iPhone 5s??? I can understand on the 5c, but the
5s in their "flagship" model. The 5s direct competition (HTC One, GS4, Moto X) have wifi AC. Really think Apple dropped the ball on this. Why did they even bother to recently update their routers to AC? Might be a deal breaker for me.:confused:
 
Apple Fan 21 said:
Why no wifi AC in the new iPhone 5s??? I can understand on the 5c, but the
5s in their "flagship" model. The 5s direct competition (HTC One, GS4, Moto X) have wifi AC. Really think Apple dropped the ball on this. Why did they even bother to recently update their routers to AC? Might be a deal breaker for me.:confused:
Click to expand...

Shocked me too. Probably related to battery life.
 
If Apple wanted a true Android killer the would have added wifi AC and LTE-A to the iPhone 5S.:mad:
 
Dangerous Theory said:
What's wrong with wireless n?
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not as fast as AC over local networks and it's no longer the newest standard. Since the 5s is Apple's newest flagship phone, you'd think they'd upgrade its wi-fi capabilities (as they did for the MacBook Air and AirPort lineups earlier this year).
 
Probably because:
1. Most people and business don't have AC routers yet. I realize an AC card is backward compatible but it's not widespread enough to make a big impact yet.

2. The iPhone 5 dual channel 5Ghz 802.11n wifi didn't come anywhere near hitting the theoretical max of 300mbps. So even if you can get a better signal through AC, it probably wouldn't have made a big difference in terms of speed.

3. You're rarely transferring anything of significant size to or from your phone. It already does fine streaming to Apple TV. So again, the speed benefits of AC probably wouldn't make that much of a difference. Signal could be a greater benefit but again, only for a few people.
 
Is there any ac mobile hardware even available? It just hit computers a couple of months ago, so a lack of mobile parts, especially in volume, wouldn't shock me.

As far as it being needed, no. The speed of N isn't exactly holding most of the public back, and the range improvement would have very limited uses. Like I'm thinking I could still be on wifi when mowing my entire lawn. Maybe. That's crucial on an iPod, but less so on an iPhone. That's what the cellular connection is there for.
 
Apple Fan 21 said:
If Apple wanted a true Android killer the would have added wifi AC and LTE-A to the iPhone 5S.:mad:
Click to expand...

How exactly would that kill Android? Samsung Galaxy S4 already has both features (LTE-A S4 models were announced just recently). On the other hand, applying your logic it may just mean that the lack of these features will allow Android to kill iPhone :p
 
This thread has just demonstrated that fanboys will really really defend the indefensible.

There is NO excuse NOT to include it. AC routers have been in the market for over a year, Apple itself released one!!! They even have a laptop with it.

Finally, the competition has had it on their phones since March/April 2013!!

And fanboys get mad when worried Apple fans say Apple is behind and not catching up.
 
They probably did not ad it because of battery concerns. No biggie though -- I'm not continually streaming GBs and GBs to my iPhone.

Bryan
 
At least it saves me from having to buy the new AirPort Extreme

The 2012 AirPort is still working fine
 
galahan said:
Probably because:
1. Most people and business don't have AC routers yet. I realize an AC card is backward compatible but it's not widespread enough to make a big impact yet.

2. The iPhone 5 dual channel 5Ghz 802.11n wifi didn't come anywhere near hitting the theoretical max of 300mbps. So even if you can get a better signal through AC, it probably wouldn't have made a big difference in terms of speed.

3. You're rarely transferring anything of significant size to or from your phone. It already does fine streaming to Apple TV. So again, the speed benefits of AC probably wouldn't make that much of a difference. Signal could be a greater benefit but again, only for a few people.
Click to expand...

Right, but Apple released an 802.11ac router. You would have to think that they would release every new product that could take full advantage of it...
 
Besides the fact that 802.11ac is the newest standard, can someone please provide some supporting evidence as to how/why it would benefit the iPhone?

I can not see needing a 1.3 Gbps connection to my phone anytime before the 5S will be long obsolete. Does ac use less power? I'm sure n chipsets are far more power efficient at this point than ac. if that is the case, most people would rather have better battery life over faster wi-fi. Just because something is the latest and greatest doesn't mean the phone has to have it when it doesn't provide any real enhancement.
 
99.9% of iPhone owners would see a benefit going to AC and it's likely power hungry and can't utilize beam forming in a tiny device.
 
My HTC One had horrible range/speed over 5Ghz 802.11ac. Switched back to 802.11g 2.4Ghz. Don't see the point of ac devices with tiny antennae.
 
Well I was surprised too.

But I suppose that it has to do with some technical issue. If it is the battery drain, I'm happy they decided not to put it in.

There should be some reason.
 
osplo said:
Well I was surprised too.

But I suppose that it has to do with some technical issue. If it is the battery drain, I'm happy they decided not to put it in.

There should be some reason.
Click to expand...

The technical reason must have been to improve the profit margin. The new macbook air has it and it has no effect on the battery life.
 
Steve121178 said:
It will be included on the iPhone 6. Right now hardly anyone has AC routers so who cares?
Click to expand...

Since not enough people have AC capable routers, might as well keep costs down by now incorporating an AC WiFi chip. I doubt Apple sell enough Air Ports to warrant incorporating AC into their iPhones either.

Then of course you have the battery strain and more than likely poor range AC has compared to WiFi N.

What do people do on their iPhone that would demand the need for AC? Genuine question.
 
What some dimwits in here don't understand is that WiFi AC is just a bullet point feature for phones. The internal NAND will not even saturate wireless N. Why the hell include AC? it won't cause anything to move faster...
 
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