The 2020 iPhone will have the next-generation 5G. In the last Apple keynote the new iPhone 11 of this year were presented. Better camera, better autonomy, and little else. It was already known that it was not going to incorporate the new 5G data transmission network. Apple has left it for the next model in 2020, without worrying that other companies already incorporate this technology in their new terminals. Better slow, but safe.
As we comment Some weeks ago, Apple has signed a 5G chip supply agreement for the next six years with Qualcomm. We also commented that Tim Cook has purchased its 5G chip division from Intel, and its corresponding patents, to manufacture their own modems with this technology for later, perhaps in 2021, and thus progressively not depend on Qualcomm as the only supplier.
The company knows full well that 5G will be the new global standard for data transmission. And he's working on it. A network that will be expensive to implement for telephone operators, and that although there are occasionally a few cities around the planet where it is already becoming a reality, the truth is that there is still time to have 5G coverage for most of the population. So there is no rush.
We also explain in another article, who 5G technology uses two different bands, MmWave and Sub-6Ghz. The first is superfast, with a high transmission speed and a high number of simultaneous connections, but with a short range. On the other hand, the Sub-6Ghz is much slower, and covers a much more limited number of terminals, on the other hand, the radius of action is much greater. A simile in radio transmission, it would be like FM and AM.
I explain this because Current 5G modem chips cannot work on both bands. This results in 5G phones that are starting to be sold today only work with one of the two bands. Do you remember the first Chinese 4G mobiles, which did not work on European networks?
One of Apple's mottos is the universality of its devices. The company will incorporate 5G technology when the same device can connect to the two bands interchangeably. An iPhone works in any country in the world, and with 5G, it will continue to do so.