Kuo: 5G iPhone won’t support 2×2 MIMO uplink for max upload speeds

It’s widely-expected that Apple’s next-gen iPhones will offer 5G, but today there’s news that they will not offer 2×2 MIMO uplink support for maximum upload speeds.

According a June 2019 report from TF Securities’ uber-analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, 5G-capable iPhones would include as many as six power amplifiers for 5G networking. But the analyst is now revising his expectation, reporting that the next-gen iPhones will instead feature just one or two power amplifiers, meaning there will be no support for 2×2 MIMO uplinking.

MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) specifically refers to a practical technique for sending and receiving more than one data signal simultaneously over the same radio channel via multi-path propagation. This results in better spectrum efficiency, higher data throughput, and similar perks.

Benjamin Mayo for 9to5Mac:

This reduces the theoretical maximum upload speed. However, whether the limitation will be noticed in the real world depends heavily on carrier infrastructure. As most 5G rollouts are still relatively new, it is possible that a user with a 2×2 capable device would see no noticeable difference in upload speeds.

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