Why no support for new LTE bands on iPad?

[unclemax]

The issue of new iPhone 6s supporting the new T-Mobile LTE Band 12 and supporting/not supporting (depending on the model) AT&T Band 30 was widely discussed in the wake of the launch.


I own an iPad Air 2 that does not support either of those, but I am surprised that the new mini 4 and the Pro don’t support those, either. Does it make sense? Somehow from my observations, cellular versions of the iPad were leading the iPhones in terms of support for multiple bands / newer (faster) standards. I guess more people will own some version of an iPhone 6s than a cellular version of iPad mini 4, but at the same time it makes more sense to support carrier aggregation in an iPad… Does Apple think / are bands 12 and 30 just a gimmick in 2015/2016? Any thoughts?

 

[rigormortis]

well the answer i gave on 9/9/2015 was that they didn't want to split the iPad into two cellular models with two cellular chipsets, one being band 30 + chinese cdma and gsm, and the other with no band 30 and american cdma and gsm

but apple revised the iPhone 6s specifications and admitted that both iPhones have cdma , its just one has band 30
and one doesn't.

so i have no idea why they just didn't put this chipset into the iPad pro.

so now I'm guessing it takes several years to design it, and maybe the chipset was not available when these iPads were on the drawing board., maybe the new inclusion of the newer lte chipset required a delay and a redesign


i dont understand why they didn't use the same band 30 chip in every iPhone

 

[Rava]

I was pretty disappointed by this too. Cellular performance is not great on my iphone 6 or ipad mini 2. Was really hoping for an upgrade here.