Katie MarsalA late leak has allegedly revealed the inner workings of the next-generation iPhone's cellular chipset, down to its specific parts and most of its capabilities.
In particular, the escaped data points to the use of the Infineon S-GOLD3 baseband chip spotted in beta firmware, which connects the device both to UMTS-based 3G networks that operate primarily in Europe as well as the newer, faster HSDPA networks present in North America, Europe, and many other parts of the world.
A trio of chips made by Skyworks — the 77413, 77414, and 77427 — address the phone's communications with specific 3G frequencies currently used around the globe, including the 850MHz band used in the US by AT&T as well as the 1900MHz and 2100MHz bands for other territories.
More significant, however, is the Global Locate Library software that abstracts assisted GPS commands.
The feature should allow the new iPhone to locate its position far more accurately than current solutions and is meant to interface with a Global Locate chip — since branded as a Broadcom product — built into a phone. Besides appearing to confirm the choice of Broadcom for built-in GPS, it also supports the addition of location-specific features added in test versions of iPhone 2.0 firmware, such as geo-tagging photos taken from the phone's built-in camera.
Supporting claims of authenticity, the purported source also alludes to an ARM 1176JZF-S processor identical to that in the original iPhone as well as a new internal build model number which is consistent with an earlier naming scheme.
William Gallagher
Andrew Orr
Christine McKee
Sponsored Content
Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Amber Neely
101 Comments
No mention is made of WCDMA, though the protocol is believed necessary for the SoftBank release in Japan.
You may want to edit your post before AI's quality control gets put into question.
Here are the PDFs from Skywork's website. They clearly state WCDMA/HSDPA
And this chart is also very stateful: http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3...smtrackdk8.png
Tri-band, which is what was expected, would work on the following networks:
This encompasses every country that Apple has partnered with. This does not, however allow for a 3G iPhone to function on T-Mobile USA. So all you with unlocked EDGE iPhones on T-Mobile have to jump to AT&T if you want to use 3G.
It would have to be a quad-band chip to allow T-Mobile to function, but since they didn't get their spectrum that long ago and have no real 3G network it's a moot point.
The GSM part is the standard quad-band for the 850/900/1800/1900 bands.PS: Anyone here able to estimate how much extra juice each of those bands will use when using internet over UTMS, based on the power usage listed in the supplied PDFs above?
Geez, you're not wrong about quality control, Solipism. AI should stay away from the technicalities:
3G = UMTS = WCDMA and HSDPA is used in Europe and most other places, not just in America see here for details - http://www.3gamericas.org/pdfs/Globa...tus_Update.pdf
The way the post reads it just makes AI sound totally clueless.
Damn, I was going to remove the intro to my post if the article was changed before another posted about it. Oh well.The PDF you supplied is interesting. I was wondering why the HW for the iPhone doesn't list HSUPA anywhere, but according to that PDF there are very few carriers with HSUPA active. And all but one, I think, is under a year old with most of them well under 6 months. Japan doesn't/didn't even have it with NTT DoCoMo until this month.
Did you not want to be rude, Solipsism? Why not, I really enjoy it. Anyway, might as well call a spade a spade. Maybe a little abuse will make them change their ways.
AI's pretty good with the rumours, but their analysis is really poor. They should get someone technical on staff or just report the news. Their reviews are pretty bad as well.
Well, at least they're not this guy. (Thanks to Gruber)
Writing for CNN Money, he opines:
Yes, it's true, you're not hallucinating, someone claiming expertise in scoping out Apple's plans by pouring over patent filings doesn't know the difference between Flash the software and flash memory chips. And confuses the two in such a way as to reach a hilariously wrong conclusion. In print. So we can see it.
Bet his nickname over at CNN is "flash" right about now, and will be for all time.
So take heart, Apple Insider!