“Over the past five years, Apple’s modem supplier was Qualcomm, but this year, Apple has taken a different approach with the decision to source two instead of one baseband chipset suppliers: Qualcomm and Intel,” Cellular Insights reports. “This created two distinct RF SKUs, one limited to GSM/WCDMA/LTE support (A1778, A1784), powered by Intel’s modem, and one with GSM/CDMA/WCDMA/TD-SCDMA/LTE support (A1660, A1661) powered by Qualcomm’s modem.”
“EVS (Enhanced Voice Services), also known as Ultra HD Voice, offers significantly improved audio quality, numerous efficiencies at the physical and IP layer, and is fully supported by Qualcomm’s modem,” Cellular Insights reports. “However, Apple has made a decision to disable this feature likely to level the playing field between the Qualcomm, and Intel varaints.”
“The Intel XMM7360 modem… lacks support for EVS, DL-256QAM/UL-64QAM, 4×4 MIMO,” Cellular Insights reports. “Ironically, mobile operators such as T-Mobile USA and Telstra which have been offering these advanced LTE features, are being supplied with the iPhone 7 with the Intel modem.”
“This study has been done entirely independently, and Cellular Insights takes full responsibility for the analysis and opinions in this report. We have self-funded the procurement of iPhone 7 Plus units through commercial retail channels. All units have been preloaded with the latest version of iOS (10.0.3),” Cellular Insights reports. “In all tests, the iPhone 7 Plus with the Qualcomm modem had a significant performance edge over the iPhone 7 Plus with the Intel modem. We are not sure what was the main reason behind Apple’s decision to source two different modem suppliers for the newest iPhone. Considering that the iPhone with the Qualcomm modem is being sold in China, Japan and in the United States only, we can not imagine that modem performance was a deciding factor.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Ladies and gentlemen, behold, we have our first real “-gate” of the iPhone 7 series.
Hello, Modem-gate!
It’s not quite as dramatic as Samsung’s exploding phones, but it’s vexing nonetheless.
As we wrote of iPhone 6s/Plus’ Chipgate, “If this isn’t FUD or a mistake by the testers, then this is like Ford selling a ‘Mustang’ with a welded hood. Some of them come with 5.2L V8 engines and some of them come with 3.7L V6 engines, but Ford just calls them both “Mustang Engines” and you don’t know which one you’ve got until you can get it to the mechanic to pry open the bonnet.’ …Customers should be satisfied they have the best of the best, Apple. This doesn’t seem like a satisfactory buying experience, Apple. Again, if these [modems] are really not that different, then Apple needs to issue a statement, with proof, ASAP.”
So, did you get a “good” iPhone 7 Plus or a “bad” one?
Thankfully, our 7 Plus units are all A1661 Qualcomm-equipped.
SEE ALSO:
Chipgate: Did you get the good A9 or the crap A9 in your iPhone 6s/Plus? – October 8, 2015
Apple claims iPhone 6s/Plus’ A9 battery performance only varies 2-3% between TSMC and Samsung variants in “real-world usage – October 8, 2015
Samsung stole trade secrets from TSMC to win Apple A9 stamping deal – August 26, 2015
TSMC sues former ex-employee over leaking trade secrets to Samsung – February 9, 2015
TSMC overtakes Samsung in FinFET, confident they will land Apple A9 orders – October 7, 2014—
How to find out if your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus has the good TSMC or crappy Samsung chip – October 9, 2015
Analyzing Apple’s statement on TSMC- and Samsung-stamped A9 chips – October 9, 2015
Apple may have made a huge mistake in having Samsung stamp inferior A9 chips – October 9, 2015
Apple claims iPhone 6s/Plus’ A9 battery performance only varies 2-3% between TSMC and Samsung variants in ‘real-world usage’ – October 8, 2015
Chipgate: Did you get the good A9 or the crap A9 in your iPhone 6s/Plus? – October 8, 2015
