Apple’s first 5G iPhones are expected to offer record download speeds, but that won’t come without a price, says analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Mike Wuerthele for AppleInsider:
In a note to investors seen by AppleInsider, Kuo believes that the main logic-board on the 2020 iPhone 5G will have to grow by about 10% in area to accommodate the new technologies. That increase in area will come with a cost —the board fabrication and some new antenna technology will force a 35% increase in cost to build that component.
The increase in the board size is related to heat dissipation from the 5G technology, and the circuitry related to connect to the new antenna technologies for 5G. This does not mean the entire phone will cost 35% more —but the motherboard of the iPhone is a significant cost.
Kuo has previously said that the design will include a metal frame with a “more complex segmentation design, new trenching and injection molding procedures, and sapphire or glass cover assembly to protect the trench injection molding structure.” Kuo goes on to claim the “metal frame and front and rear 2/2.5D glass are still used, but the metal frame surface will be changed to a similar design to the iPhone 4, replacing the current surface design.”
MacDailyNews Take: We’d love to (finally) see iPhone get a virtually indestructible Liquidmetal frame!