Just one of the new iPhones Apple is set to announce will support the faster mmWave 5G wireless service, a wireless industry source tells Fast Company, but some incongruities in the report raise questions.
Mark Sullivan for Fast Company:
All the phones in the new iPhone 12 line will support the slower but more common Sub-6[GHz] type of 5G service, but only the largest, highest-end phone in the line, a 6.5-inch screen device likely called the iPhone Pro Max, will also support millimeter-wave 5G.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s flagship iPhone is expected to be called “iPhone 12 Pro Max” and feature a 6.7-inch display, the largest ever on an iPhone. Apple’s other models feature a 5.4-inch display (iPhone 12) and 6.1-inch displays (iPhone 12 Max and iPhone 12). There is no expectation for Apple to unveil an iPhone with a 6.5-inch display this year.
The source says only the largest phone in the line has room inside for the special antenna design required for millimeter wave and larger battery needed to accommodate millimeter wave’s significant power draw. Also, only the U.S., Korea, and Japan versions of the Pro Max will support millimeter-wave 5G.
[mmWave 5G] travels over high-frequency radio spectrum, between 24 GHz and 39 GHz, and delivers download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) and sometimes beyond. On the other hand, the signal has trouble penetrating objects such as buildings and is more expensive for carriers to deploy than a lower-frequency service.
Sub-6 service, which uses lower frequency spectrum below 6 GHz, produces speeds that are much more like a good 4G connection… Sub-6 service, while slower, can support more users per base station, and has farther reach, so it’s more cost effective.
MacDailyNews Take: mmWave is really only workable in small, concentrated, optimized areas like sports stadiums. sub-6GHz 5G is what most people will use most of the time; slightly faster with far more robust capacity than 4G. Apple will market their next-gen iPhone models as 5G and that’s all the vast majority of customers who even care about 5G will care about.
We expect the following models, names, specs, and prices:
iPhone 12
• 5.4-inch BOE OLED Super Retina display
• 5G cellular connectivity
• A14 SoC
• 4GB memory
• 128GB, 256GB storage
• Aluminum casing
• Dual rear camera system
• $649, $749
iPhone 12 Max
• 6.1-inch BOE OLED Super Retina
• 5G cellular connectivity
• A14 SoC
• 4GB memory
• 128GB, 256GB storage
• Aluminum casing
• Dual rear camera system
• $749, $849
iPhone 12 Pro
• 6.1-inch Samsung OLED Super Retina XDR with ProMotion and 10-bit Color Depth display
• 5G cellular connectivity
• A14 SoC
• 6GB memory
• 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
• Stainless steel casing
• Triple camera system
• LiDAR
• $999, $1099, $1299
iPhone 12 Pro Max
• 6.7-inch Samsung OLED Super Retina XDR with ProMotion and 10-bit Color Depth display
• 5G cellular connectivity
• A14 SoC
• 6GB memory
• 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
• Stainless steel casing
• Triple camera system
• LiDAR
• $1099, $1199, $1399