Rumor: Next-gen iPhones to Get Faster 3G, WiFi

Lonnie Lazar ()

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Image by shapeshift, used under CreativeCommons license

Next-generation iPhones could enjoy up to twice as fast 3G connectivity and faster WiFi as well, according to rumors being pondered Friday at Silicon Valley Insider and Mac Rumors.

The speculation centers around AT&T’s stated intention to upgrade its 3G network to support 7.2 Mbps speeds, up from the 3.6 Mbps speed of the current network. The cellular provider maintains that that many of its cell towers can be upgraded through software rather than by new equipment, but current iPhone hardware limits connectivity to 3.6 Mbps, so users of Apple’s mobile devices will need a new generation of phone to enjoy faster 3G connectivity.

Additional speculation concerns the possibility of faster WiFi connectivity through a new Broadcom 802.11 chipset that would provide real Wi-Fi speeds of up to 50Mbps (versus 25Mbps for typical 802.11g) in addition to Bluetooth with support for wireless stereo audio.

While none of the speculation has been confirmed at this point, it is only logical to assume that as faster, more powerful chips become available, Apple and its service provider partners will enable devices that take advantage of them.

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Perhaps the battery industry will join the advancing technology party in a meaningful way as well.

7 comments »

About the author

Lonnie Lazar

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

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  • kap

    A2DP (The stero bluetooth wireless audio) HAS been confirmed. It was mentioned in the initial iPhone 3.0 developer preview. It will also be available for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G users.

  • DUNCAN

    all those middle aged guys peering at a phone. its creepy.

  • Chuck

    It would be nice if they finish out the 3G network they have now.

  • Dutch

    Those faster network speeds are for the Apple iTablet [and/or Gen 4 iPhone], not the impending iPhone hardware refresh…
    Wouldn’t you want your video conference call to run smoothly via your Apple iTablet ? Or your gen 4.0 iPhone…
    One alanlyst was right though..judging by the detail in the 3.0 Dev pack…there looks to be iPhone 2,1 = 3.0 and a high end 3,1 premium iPhone in the pipeline…and later that mystical ‘iProd’ ;-)

  • Glenn

    The 3G network will never be “finished”. AT&T has moved on to construction of 4G/LTE/whatever they choose to call it. In fact, they are still building EDGE towers and 1G digital towers all over the country.
    It is 1500 miles from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles on Interstate 40, and of that total distance, one traveling with a 3G iPhone would enjoy 3G service for a total of 80 miles according to the latest AT&T coverage maps.

  • http://www.photouplink.com Mark Morris

    No need to wait for the peer to peer support in OS3.0!

    PhotoUpLink for iPhone and iPod Touch is a free, peer to peer photo sharing tool with a unique ability to pick multiple photos to send. Just click on each image you want to send across all your albums and they get added to the list to send.

    The app is free, so no problem installing it on your friend’s device to receive them. Select your photos, touch WiShare and then any device that is also running PhotoUpLink on the same WiFi network will show up, touch the device name and transfer begins automatically.

    http://www.itunes.com/app/PhotoUpLink

    Obligatory demo video is here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaWJNVckRX0&fmt=18

  • NewJohnny

    I hope by faster they mean Wireless-N. It sure would be nice to get my iphone to join my Airport Extreme’s WDS network.