There are a lot of reasons why it’s unlikely that the next iPhone won’t boast true LTE speeds. For one thing, the national coverage for LTE is virtually non-existent. For another, first-gen LTE chipsets are by Apple’s own estimation far too juice hungry to go into the iPhone.
If you needed any more cold water dashed on your hopes of an iPhone 4G in September, though, consider iSuppli’s latest report. They say that an LTE chip in the iPhone would make it the bulkiest and most expensive iPhone yet.
iSuppli’s Senior Analyst Wayne Lam explained the problem in a note on Friday
“It remains to be seen whether the next Apple iPhone set for introduction in September will support 4G LTE. However, if it does, two things are clear. First the iPhone’s minuscule printed circuit board (PCB) will have to grow in size in order to support the first-generation LTE baseband processor as well as all the supporting chipset. Second, the next iPhone’s BOM value certainly will increase substantially compared to the iPhone 4 if LTE is implemented in the same manner as in the HTC ThunderBolt.”
Few, I think, would be willing to trade the iPhone’s svelte footprint and relatively affordable price (after subsidy) for a more expensive monstrosity, just for the sake of a few kbps.
2012 looks more promising, though: not only will the second-generation LTE chipsets be out by then, but AT&T and Verizon’s in utero 4G networks should have crowned by then.
[via MacWorld]
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
20 responses to “Analyst: LTE Would Make Next iPhone As Bulky And Inefficient As An Android Phone”
I read this article “Three Reasons why iPhone 5 won’t have 4G LTE” and one of the reason was size.
http://techztalk.com/techwebsi…
You are such a cynic HK-47.
I guess that whats happens when you try to make your phone as small and compact as possible. You’re (most likely) not able to stick the newest technology into the phone. LTE phones really are not that bulky. Well, any 4.3 inch screen phone (which all current LTE phone are) is going to seem “bulky” to an iPhone. Efficiency wise, well you have the HTC Thunderbolt, which battery life sucks, but apparently that’s a problem all HTC phones have. But, on the other side, you have the Samsung Droid charge, which reviews after reviews praise it for its great battery life.
Price increase? Well, that’s funny, I read comment after comment that says that the reason why people by android phones is that they can’t afford an iPhone, and if they could afford an iPhone, they would buy an iPhone. Yet, all current LTE android phones cost /more/ than the iPhone, and they are selling extremely well. Also, all LTE phones are packing 32GB of storage capacity as well.
So in other news, the iPhone is too small to be able to have LTE efficiently and iPhone user aren’t willing to pay more to get more. ;P
Is that double negative in the first sentence of the article intentional or did you actually mean to suggest that “it’s ‘likely’ that the next iPhone won’t boast true LTE speeds”?
What a waste of time predicting/arguing the obvious. I don’t think anyone believes that Apple will adopt LTE if they have to use the current generation chip. The reasons are the same as the ones he states above and have been known about for at least a year or two.
The only possibility of LTE in the next iPhone is if Apple has early access to the *second* generation chip, which would essentially make all his points above moot if they do.
This is not news.
It’s like an article on the sun rise or something.
I guess its at least better than the “analysts” who get paid six figure salaries to pull nonsensical fantasies out of their butts such iPads with 8 times the resolution of the current one or iPhones with NFC chips, etc.
“As bulky and inefficient as an android phone” Wtf are you smoking?
All of the people I know with 4G Android phones moan and complain about battery life and they’re not even in cities that utilize 4G cell towers…
-Chris
FOM