Strange, strange question..

Seeming as they don't want you to do something as easy as a battery swap... somehow I think soldering a new 3G chip set onto the Logic Board of the iPhone seems highly unlikely.

 

No.

 

Like a 3G adaptor that plugs into the dock connector?

Honestly, it's in Apple's best interests to update the iPhone (to sell more iPhones of course).

Plus, who wants to carry around an adaptor? ...I know I wouldn't. For everyone who already owns an iPhone, 3G obviously isn't necessary, and the very few who really want it can buy a new iPhone.

 

Unless you want crappy battery life, the update to a 3g iphone will involve much more than a simple chip swap. There will probably be adjustments in several phases of the hardware. Like a more powerful battery, additionally hardware to ease the process, a redesign of the board to manage the different technology.

Rarely with chips do you get easy swap ability. These aren't like sd cards. These are major hardware components and the surrounding board needs to be designed with it specifically in mind. So, I don't even think that apple could possibly offer an upgrading option. It just ain't going to happen.

Just some thoughts from an electrical engineer.

 

You know why contracts make no sense? They keep you from upgrading. This hurts sales and handicaps innovation. Thank God apple is working to change this. (not necessarily contracts, but the hurt of innovation).

 

Would be a nice idea if they did that or gave users the ability to upgrade the phone to 3G at their local Apple store. However, I am pretty sure this wouldn't be legal because I think the phones need FCC approval when any hardware change is done that alters the "phone" features. It would be nice if they made an easy option to upgrade to 16GB of storage though.

 

You remind me of someone, someone who said in front of ~2000 people,

That person, for the unaware, is Steve Jobs. I think that quote really shows what he thinks about objects that could get lost or broken, so no. And for internal components, that's not going to happen either.