How Apple Made 5G Part of the iPhone

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How Apple makes 5G part of the iPhone

Apple surprised everyone by unveiling four versions of the iPhone 12 in October last year, all of which 5G support. 5G is only just being rolled out and in the Netherlands we can’t even use full speed yet, but Apple wants to assure consumers that the iPhone 12 is ready for the future.

So future-proof, but with a side note. Only the iPhone 12 models in the United States support almost all low, mid and high frequencies used for 5G worldwide.

The iPhone 12 that you buy in the Netherlands lacks support for the higher 5G frequencies. That is not a problem at the moment, because these higher frequencies will not be auctioned in the Netherlands until 2022 and will only be usable after that. If you still want to use the iPhone 12 afterwards, you will miss that extra speed.

The hardware and software

In the iPhone 12, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 modem is used to enable 5G. The successor to this modem was already announced in February 2020: the X60, which uses electricity more efficiently. At that time, however, the development of the iPhone 12 was already too far advanced to switch.

Previously, Apple used modems from Intel, but this company was not on time with modems that support 5G. That’s why in 2019 Apple had to bury the hatchet with Qualcomm for Qualcomm modems in the iPhone 12.

The difference between America and Europe is not in the modem, but in the antenna. An mmWave antenna has been used in the United States. The iPhone 12 in the United States therefore also has an extra hole in the side of the case to make use of this extra fast 5G. In Europe, the antenna does not need that.

De Apple 5G-chip

With the iPhone 12, Apple has thought of the extra charge for the battery that 5G provides. For example, ‘smart data mode’ is incorporated into the iPhone 12. That means apps will only use 5G when they really need it. No 5G is needed for every small background data exchange.

In the future it will be easier to coordinate this hardware and software. Apple is working hard on its own modem, so that the company is no longer dependent on other parties such as Qualcomm.

The modem is a logical next move in the family of Apple chips that the company makes. Previous rumors stated that Apple will launch the first iPhone with its own 5G modem in 2022. We will see next year whether that is actually the case.

More about the iPhone 12

The iPhone 12 comes in four different flavors. Of the very small ones iPhone 12 mini to the impressive iPhone 12 Pro Max. Check in the video below whether you have the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro Need:

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