Preparing for the iPhone Next: Rumors Analyzed
by Brian Klug & Anand Lal Shimpi on August 27, 2012 9:40 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPhone
WiFi
Improvements to WiFi come every generation partly just due to better combo chips coming from Broadcom's aggressive roadmap in that space, and we wouldn't be surprised to see further generational improvement here. If you read our reviews, this will sound like a broken record, but the inclusion of 5 GHz WiFi support in smartphones is something that is starting to become relatively mainstream at the high end, and we wouldn't be shocked to see the iPhone follow suit.
The location of that antenna moved from the external metal band on the GSM iPhone 4 to an internal printed one with the CDMA iPhone 4 so that the top band could be repurposed for cellular receive diversity, something the 4S inherited. I would strongly expect that to continue with the next device given the aforementioned MIMO requirements for LTE. Multi spatial stream support for WiFi is still basically out of the question, improvements in this space are again possible 5 GHz support with 40 MHz channels, which we've seen from BCM4334 in other shipping devices already.
| Apple iPhone - WiFi Trends | |||||||
| Release Year | WiFi + BT Support | WiFi Silicon | |||||
| iPhone | 2007 | 802.11 b/g, BT 2.0+EDR | Marvell W8686, CSR BlueCore | ||||
| iPhone 3G | 2008 | 802.11 b/g, BT 2.0+EDR | Marvell W8686, CSR BlueCore | ||||
| iPhone 3GS | 2009 | 802.11 b/g, BT 2.1+EDR | Broadcom BCM4325 | ||||
| iPhone 4 | 2010 | 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz), BT 2.1+EDR | Broadcom BCM4329 | ||||
| iPhone 4S | 2011 | 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz), BT 4.0+EDR | Broadcom BCM4330 | ||||
| iPhone Next | 2012 | ? | Broadcom BCM4334? | ||||
Battery
Battery life on a device is obviously a function of the inherent efficiency of its components, but also is a function of overall battery capacity. Increasing the size of that tank obviously gets you immediate gains in overall lifetime, at the expense of increasing the mass or volume of the device. The iPhone has been no stranger to increases in battery life, and in fact the iPhone 4 realized a considerable jump in overall battery size thanks to the side by side PCB / battery split that has now dominated smartphone design. Since then we haven't seen as much of an increase in capacity, and meanwhile some Android phones are shipping batteries as large as nearly 8 Whr (2100 MaH, 3.8V in SGS3).
Higher capacity iPhone Battery (courtesy: 9to5Mac)
Recent leaks out of China have, howver, indicated that the next iPhone will likely move to a higher voltage chemistry, up from 3.7 V nominal to 3.8 V nominal. This follows the move that Motorola made over a year ago to the 3.8 V nominal chemistry where I saw it the first time. Since then Motorola has shipped almost all its phones with 3.8 V batteries, followed by Nokia and Samsung. Thus it seems highly likely that Apple will also move to this chemistry given maturity and the tangible benefits it provides to battery lifetime.
| Apple iPhone - Battery Trends | |||||||
| Release Year | Battery | ||||||
| iPhone | 2007 | 1400 mAh, 3.7V (5.18 Wh) | |||||
| iPhone 3G | 2008 | 1150 mAh, 3.7V (4.25 Wh) | |||||
| iPhone 3GS | 2009 | 1219 mAh, 3.7V (4.51 Wh) | |||||
| iPhone 4 | 2010 | 1420 mAh, 3.7V (5.25 Wh) | |||||
| iPhone 4S | 2011 | 1430 mAh, 3.7V (5.29 Wh) | |||||
| iPhone Next | 2012 | 1440 mAh, 3.8V (5.47 Wh) | |||||
Conclusions
Based on everything we've seen, and the analysis on the previous pages, it seems likely that the next iPhone will feature a dual-core Cortex A9 SoC built on Samsung's 32nm LP (HK+MG) process, with a PowerVR SGX 543MP2 driving a larger 4-inch display. Battery capacity will see a slight bump, but battery life itself should be measurably better compared to the iPhone 4S thanks to a move to 28/32nm silicon for the baseband and apps processor. LTE and TD-SCDMA support will likely be driven by a Qualcomm MDM9x15. Evolutionary improvements in the WiFi stack are a reasonable expectation, however NFC support isn't. There are still questions about final details (e.g. camera sensors) but a lot of what Apple has been doing with the iPhone closely follows an aggressive 2-year design and silicon cadence. It's the relentless competition and hyper Moore's Law curve in the smartphone space that drive Apple's development cycle here. I don't expect much change here for the next couple of years at least.
Despite the annual release schedule and a 2-year cadence for most silicon elements, Apple also appears to remain relatively conservative in how it adopts new technologies. Process nodes, new chip architectures, and new wireless standards are all evaluated with a fairly conservative eye. Apple's iPhone business is a well oiled machine at this point, any unnecessary risks are consistently avoided.
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macs - Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - link
There goes my hope for Cortex A15... Sadtipoo - Monday, September 10, 2012 - link
Well A15 just wasn't ready yet, but I hope they do something in between like Krait.Frallan - Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - link
I understand that the focus of the writers shift and the pieces that are produced regardless of area are of the highest quality. I also understand that the site has to go where the consumers money goes.
But [RANT] I find it sad that Anandtech has become an iSite. looking back there are more and more iArticles and less and less of everything else. if this trend continues another year you will have to rebrand the site iAnandtech - allthough you probably get sued to hell and back if you did. [/RANT]
Pleas bring back the computer related articles. More GPU/CPU/SSD/HDD/SERVER and less iDevices.
BR
/F
hlovatt - Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - link
I just looked on AnandTech front page; there is exactly one Apple article, this one! That count includes the pipeline articles. For such a major player this does not seem excessive.Add to that, that Apple is a major innovator, produces original designs, introduces new technology, and retires older technology much more aggressively than other manufacturers.
Why wouldn't a tech site that looks to the future cover Apple? Would you really rather them cover Dell? We would all die of boredom!
jwcalla - Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - link
"Add to that, that Apple is a major innovator, produces original designs, introduces new technology, and retires older technology much more aggressively than other manufacturers."Were you able to write that with a straight face? If this article is anywhere near accurate, it barely brings the iPhone up to spec with year-old Android phones.
The guy has a good point: Apple rides on so much media hype that they could literally smear a turd on the touchscreen and the reviews would be glowing. Which smartphone out there has garnered a five-page article here just to cover the rumored specs?
Yeah, I get it -- "it's the iPhone". But being "the iPhone" shouldn't automatically grant it unwarranted hype, especially for a site where technical merits should be one of the highest considerations. Look at the thing objectively: spec'd out it's a rather mediocre smartphone. Would Apple's products truly be relevant without all the hype?
observerr - Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - link
I don't think you know what literally means.swb311 - Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - link
Don't get caught up by marketing. A 1GHz dual-core A5 can be every bit as fast as a newer quad core processor. A lot more goes into processor speed than pure specs. Apple custom makes their operating system AND chips so that they work together MUCH better than an off-the-shelf component like the Exynos or Krait. Just like their laptops, Apple software does more with less. So just because it doesn't look like it matches an Android phone on paper doesn't mean that it won't feel (be) faster in your hand. The fact of the matter is, as has been stated in these comments and on this blog, quad core processors are relatively useless unless software is threaded properly. Trust me, if Apple needed a quad-core processor it would put one in its phone. Android phones must distinguish themselves from EACH OTHER, hence the spec war which means almost nothing these days.alxx - Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - link
A5 (not A15) is designed to run at slower clocks and much lower power than A9KoolAidMan1 - Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - link
"it barely brings the iPhone up to spec with year-old Android phones"A new Galaxy S3 is just now competitive with an iPhone 4S, and there are still new Tegra 3 Android tablets that are outperformed by a 2011 iPad 2.
How were YOU able to write that with a straight face?
doobydoo - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - link
Um, actually, in America, no Android manufacturers have caught up with the iPhone 4S - which still has the fastest GPU in any American smartphone. 10 months on.You're evidently simplistic method of comparing performance makes me cringe.