iPhone 13 May Feature Faster mmWave 5G Connectivity in More Countries

[Abstract]

I’m waiting to buy the iPhone 13 Mini for Qualcomm’s X60 modem (currently X55) and its power efficiency, not the 5G feature that everybody turns off when they buy an iPhone 12.

Even if it’s 10-20% more power efficient, I’d turn off 5G. 4G speeds are absolutely ? for my daily use.

 

[jwdsail]

Am I the only one who sees no real advantages to mmWave 5G, considering both how short range it is, and how still totally dependent on the underlying infrastructure that can barely handle LTE traffic in most areas? If you live in an area where the LTE service is unusable when there's a HS football game nearby or a race at a nearby short track, guess what? It isn't going to be any better with people using MMWave 5G.

Tech companies and the FCC ignoring the warnings from the meteorology community regarding MMWave 5G interfering with water vapor imagery and the accuracy of weather forecasts, is a real issue, as opposed to all the fake BS hysteria floating around about 5G..

I'm not sure I see the upside? I don't see the real world value? I'm not excited for this? It's a gimmick at best and a gimmick that could cost lives at worst? (Severe flash floods with less if any warning, less accuracy in the intensity of approaching hurricanes, etc)

Maybe I'm just getting old?

 

[bodonnell202]

As an iPhone 12 user who lives in 5G range, allow me to tell you that the battery life hit is not worth it.
One day at my house, the power went out, and I was stuck using 5G. My phone drained from 100% down to about 55% in an hour, and all I was doing was listening to a podcast.
I turned off 5G-auto, and went back to regular LTE, and the battery drain immediately stopped.
The LTE loaded my podcast better as well.

This is part of why I returned the iPhone 12 I pre-ordered. The next gen 5G modem should be much more power efficient.

 

[33man]

As an iPhone 12 user who lives in 5G range, allow me to tell you that the battery life hit is not worth it.
One day at my house, the power went out, and I was stuck using 5G. My phone drained from 100% down to about 55% in an hour, and all I was doing was listening to a podcast.
I turned off 5G-auto, and went back to regular LTE, and the battery drain immediately stopped.
The LTE loaded my podcast better as well.

Well don’t forget all the energy your phone Uses for activating 5G responsible of the Covid 19 and also activate the nano particles in the vaccine to control human brain??

well more seriously, this is indeed disappointing, I was hoping that the smaller engraving the new chip would give better autonomy... especially when you see first 5G Android phones with 4500mah plus batteries having trouble to hold the charger and Apple has the courage to propose very small batteries and 5G....

definitely to me the best phone is still the 11 pro max

 

[Septembersrain]

I'd think if they up the battery mAh again along with the more power efficient modem, 5G won't be so bad. Right now it's just ridiculous. I've got an Android with 5G but even with a 5000 mAh battery, it's a monster. I'm sticking with my 11 Pro Max, we'll see at the end of this year if I'll upgrade.

 

[JPack]

First part is right, but the second isn't... as right.

It's actually only suited for urban deployment. Places where people congregate in large-ish numbers. Arenas, stadiums, train stations, airports, shopping malls... Places where normal cellular doesn't work quite as well due to the physics involved.

Instead of having a ticked off customer be unable to access the network after a touchdown in a packed stadium, mmWave will work there quite well.

A huge selling point of mmWave is to offload those crowded events with bursts of traffic off the ordinary non-mmWave network so they don't disrupt what's going on there.

But what happened in 2020 was no one in arenas, no one in stadia, limited crowds in train stations and airports... Verizon bet hard on mmWave and it's been a loser so far.

Eventually, mmWave will pan out. But it will likely be years. Heck, before the iPhone, people didn't know what to do with wireless data. Something will come along in time to make mmWave attractive in some use cases.

Increased connection capacity is largely the result of massive MIMO antennas, not mmWave. Traditional MIMO has 8 antennas and massive MIMO has 64. Carriers in Japan and China have already installed massive MIMO antennas in congested areas like train stations.

mmWave will likely never scale beyond a few small neighborhood pockets because it doesn't penetrate walls. Outdoor mmWave signals won't penetrate indoors. Any urban area will have buildings with walls and floors. This means carriers will have to install indoor base stations and they can't afford that. Wi-Fi 6E effectively delivers mmWave performance indoors and in stadiums. Outdoors, mmWave antennas basically need to be positioned on all four corners of a building.

Except for the special case of an open stadium, mmWave doesn't have much practical use. There's a reason why most countries outside the U.S. bet on mid-band 5G.

Verizon’s 5G network can’t cover an entire basketball arena, either

Verizon 5G can't cover all the seating areas in any NBA or NFL facility.

arstechnica.com

 

[TantalizedMind]

Is there an option to turn off 5G but leave on 4G LTE? I might get a new iPhone in October but 5G doesn’t exist here.

 

[ksec]

At least two post questioning mmWave. I am so glad to see this. Years after people commenting on 5G may be we finally learn something?

What mmWave network in the UK? Maybe not been paying attention but don’t believe there is one...

There are none. Which is also the case around the world except in the US with Verizon. And more importantly there none "planned" in UK AND around the world. Which is why I am pissed when I see this.

Countries such as the UK, Germany, Canada, China, and Japan all have growing mmWave networks and would be able to benefit from faster 5G with the iPhone 13.

No one in EU, UK, Canada, Australia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South East Asia, are "planning" to have mmWave Network. How is that growing?

I keep saying it but most dont want to understand the subject. Social Media didn't bring echo chamber to ourself, it seems it is people themselves.

mmWave does not make any sense from economical prospective. If you have to paid rent for every location / installation of mmWave, it would have been better to install a small cell using same frequency from WIFI aka LAA ( License Assisted Access ) or their own Spectrum usage especially with 5G NR being more accurate in signal direction / positioning.

So for all the smart engineers within the 50 nations or so looking at 5G mmWave for years, no one was smart enough to solve the impossible. And yet the Internet forum has been chanting mmWave, some even calling non mmWave iPhone not real 5G iPhone.

 

[recoil80]

This year’s iPhones are gonna use the Qualcomm X60 modem (this has already been confirmed through the settlement docs), which will be physically smaller and more power efficient, which is what I think more people will care about. The modem itself will draw less power, and presumably, the phone can reclaim more space for its battery that it lost in the 12 series because of the current modem (X55). This will especially benefit the Mini.

They may spend this extra "power budget" for an higher refresh rate display on this year's model, at least on the Pro. A Mini with this new modem and the 60Hz OLED could have a good battery life and it might be my next iPhone.
I skipped the 12, 5G is not yet widely available here and I'm going to spend most of my time at home with WiFi at least until next summer, so 5G is basically useless now.

 

[Premium1]

This year’s iPhones are gonna use the Qualcomm X60 modem (this has already been confirmed through the settlement docs), which will be physically smaller and more power efficient, which is what I think more people will care about. The modem itself will draw less power, and presumably, the phone can reclaim more space for its battery that it lost in the 12 series because of the current modem (X55). This will especially benefit the Mini.

Eh apple will just shrink the battery even further and claim the new processor is more efficient and makes up for the reduction in battery size.

 

[SubduedTiger]

My millimeter waves are operating like miles here even though I’m supposably (preferred spelling) in a 5G area with a fancy 5G telephone.

Now I know why they call it telephony...

 

[Premium1]

Anyone complaining about battery drain on 5G clearly never went through the early days with LTE. That was some serious battery drain the first 1-2 years of LTE.

 

[Jimmy Bubbles]

Zoiks Shaggy! Will Safari be extra-snappy with this?? I’m so oppressed with this LTE currently.

 

[Premium1]

At least two post questioning mmWave. I am so glad to see this. Years after people commenting on 5G may be we finally learn something?



There are none. Which is also the case around the world except in the US with Verizon. And more importantly there none "planned" in UK AND around the world. Which is why I am pissed when I see this.



No one in EU, UK, Canada, Australia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South East Asia, are "planning" to have mmWave Network. How is that growing?

I keep saying it but most dont want to understand the subject. Social Media didn't bring echo chamber to ourself, it seems it is people themselves.

mmWave does not make any sense from economical prospective. If you have to paid rent for every location / installation of mmWave, it would have been better to install a small cell using same frequency from WIFI aka LAA ( License Assisted Access ) or their own Spectrum usage especially with 5G NR being more accurate in signal direction / positioning.

So for all the smart engineers within the 50 nations or so looking at 5G mmWave for years, no one was smart enough to solve the impossible. And yet the Internet forum has been chanting mmWave, some even calling non mmWave iPhone not real 5G iPhone.

mmWave was never meant for the masses, it was always a means to allow for lots of people in small areas (like concerts, sporting events, etc) and it still makes lots of sense (go to a big event and see how even all the small cells cause the network to come to a crawl). I can also see carriers in the US using their mmwave more for businesses/home internet replacement more so than a mobile alternative (that is where mid and low band spectrum will come in to play).

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Tell me again why we like Apple products so much? Between this and the myriad of OS issues through 2020, it's got to be the logo; because it sure the heck isn't the technology. Yet, here I am with a 12Max while I'm waiting for the AW6 to arrive. ? "Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead"

Keep in mind that the entire reason why the iPhone 12 has 5G modem‘s is because it was in Apple‘s agreement with QUALCOMM back in April 2019.
basically, Apple agreed to add 5G whenever QUALCOMM said they needed to, that way QUALCOMM would drop their lawsuits.
Plus, Apple was probably under pressure from the carriers.
I guarantee you that if Apple could’ve avoided adding 5G, they would have. Just like they avoided adding LTE until it was absolutely ready.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Is there an option to turn off 5G but leave on 4G LTE? I might get a new iPhone in October but 5G doesn’t exist here.

Yes

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Anyone complaining about battery drain on 5G clearly never went through the early days with LTE. That was some serious battery drain the first 1-2 years of LTE.

And that’s why android manufactures added 4G LTE in 2009/2010, and Apple waited until 2012, when it was more widely available, and less power-hungry.
unfortunately, due to QUALCOMM‘s meddling, 5G had to be on the 12. i’m guessing this wasn’t apples preference, but what QUALCOMM said was what went.

 

[Premium1]

And that’s why android manufactures added 4G LTE in 2009/2010, and Apple waited until 2012, when it was more widely available, and less power-hungry.
unfortunately, due to QUALCOMM‘s meddling, 5G had to be on the 12. i’m guessing this wasn’t apples preference, but what QUALCOMM said was what went.

Eh, that's still a terrible excuse. Apple slashed the battery size (when they knew 5G was a drain) when they could have made it a tad thicker and included a larger battery to offset it. The iPhone 12 pro has terrible battery life. XR/11 had a great battery. maybe next year they will bring back a beefier battery to boost battery life back up again.