In the fall, Apple will release its next-gen iPhones. And we are waiting for a furor. Especially, the Apple fans are waiting for 5G to appear on the iPhones. In fact, we have heard the iPhone 12 will support 5G technology. But which 5G technology is it going to use? There is currently no accurate statement. Moreover, a new supply chain report does not completely answer the question. But it does reveal a little possibility that not all iPhones will use the same 5G network standard.
Let us talk about the background first. There are currently two main 5G technologies, called Sub-6 and mmWave (hereinafter referred to as millimeter wave). Both frequencies are used by 5G signals. Among them, Sub-6 uses low and medium frequency bands below 6GHz, and millimeter waves use high-frequency bands from 24GHz to 39GHz.
The former is considered to be a transition technology, which provides faster speeds than 4G LTE, and the improvement is not so great. But this technology can indeed reduce the waiting time and does not require the high density of cellular network base stations. We mean it is capable of using the existing 4G base station equipment. So most users can achieve the nominal speed of 100-150Mbps.
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Millimeter-wave is a faster standard. Theoretically, the actual speed is about 500Mbps. However, its wavelength is very short. So it is susceptible to interference, which requires greater base station density. This means that it will only be available in very limited areas, such as airports, large bus stations, stadiums, and tourist attractions.
The situation of the two is similar to the 2.4GHz and 5GHz of home WiFi routers. Although the latter is stronger, the former has better wall-penetrating capabilities.
How Will Apple Differentiate 5G Technologies On iPhone 12?
Earlier, Digitimes reported that Apple’s supply chain expects shipments of millimeter-wave 5G iPhones this year to be halved from previous estimates.
Some people speculate that Apple will provide different 5G support according to product classifications. For example, low-end models only support Sub-6, while high-end models support both. There are also speculations that the Cupertino-based company will distinguish different 5G networks by country.
The current information does not tell us which models of iPhone can use millimeter-wave 5G, but most of the users think that not all iPhones will support the millimeter-wave.
P.S. According to an analyst, Daniel Ives, the iPhone 12 will have 4G models. This is a more convenient way for Apple to lower the price.
