Upcoming 5G 'iPhone 12' expected to support 'true' mmWave 5G

Ming-Chi Kuo has released a note to investors suggesting that the 2020 5G "iPhone 12" will support the entire 5G spectrum, including mmWave, despite what other analysts have said.

Ming-Chi Kuo's previous reports had claimed that all four phones would support 5G, but did not go on to specify what type. His latest note goes on to explain that all four models will now support mmWave 5G.

"We believe that Apple will release new iPhones that support mmWave and Sub-6GHz iPhones at the same time in 2H20.

Because 5G iPhones are divided into Sub-6GHz and Sub-6GHz + mmWave models, the complexity of new product development is higher, which is also beneficial to Fuzhikang Group of NRE.

According to our latest survey, the development of the Sub-6GHz + mmWave iPhone is progressing as scheduled, and it is expected to ship at the end of 3Q20 or early 4Q20."

JP Morgan and a few others have claimed that only two of the four 5G iPhone 12 models would support mmWave 5G in an earlier note to investors. They had suggested that the devices would be paired off with two offering higher-tier "Pro" style specifications, while the others would have lesser features.

According to JP Morgan, all four will be "driving potential acceleration in replacement cycles." The four will also be offered in the same year as an anticipated release of the second-generation iPhone SE, which is expected to ship with a 4.7-inch LCD display in the first half of 2020.

20 Comments

Fatman 513 comments · 8 Years

About 4 years ago

2020 - the year to upgrade

cincymac 27 comments · 22 Years

Fatman said:

2020 - the year to upgrade

2020 - the year of 5G in the USA.

tjwolf 423 comments · 12 Years

The alternative suggested JP Morgan and others didn't make a lot of sense anyway. When, in the past, has Apple *ever* split a product line by the level of standard technology it supported? Sure, there have been cases where some phones were faster than others, but that was because of supplier constraints (e.g. Qualcomm modem vs. Intel) - and even then, Apple didn't make the more capable phone a separate model. Heck, if I remember, it actively slowed down the faster version to make everyone's experience similar.

Apple makes separate models by having separate features. It doesn't make separate models by giving one phone an inferior version of the same feature (5G in this case).

netmage 314 comments · 14 Years

tjwolf said:
Apple makes separate models by having separate features. It doesn't make separate models by giving one phone an inferior version of the same feature (5G in this case).

IBIS says Hi!

MplsP 4028 comments · 8 Years

cincymac said:

Fatman said:

2020 - the year to upgrade

2020 - the year of 5G in the USA.

Actually, probably not. Verizon just announced that they were slowing/scaling back plans for rolling out 5G. T Mo recently announced ‘nation wide’ 5G, but from the articles I’ve read, the implementation and features currently make it ‘virtually indistinguishable’ from 4G.

Again, 5G is so mired in confusion that no one knows anything. Consumers are being pushed to believe ‘it’s the next great thing’ but all they know is it will be really fast. Except the mm wave aspects will be extremely limited and likely never be truly widespread. I suspect what’s going to happen is the cell phone manufacturers will be forced by public expectation to include chips and antennae allowing features unusable by the vast majority of people and which add cost and potentially compromise battery life of the devices.