The iPhone 13 (which might be released under a different name, but let’s go with this for now) is coming next Tuesday. Even if you’re an Android fan, you should be psyched to see how the competitive table is going to be set.
We have a story on what we might see, but this is my 5G newsletter, so let me tell you how the iPhone 13 will give you better 5G coverage.
Better 5G Coverage, Lower 5G Latency
The big change in the iPhone 13 will be moving to Qualcomm’s x60 modem from the x55. That’s going to allow all of the US carriers to deliver better, lower-latency 5G coverage on the iPhone 13 than the iPhone 12.
Mobile coverage is typically more limited by the uplink (your phone transmitting to the tower) than the downlink (the tower transmitting to your phone). The uplink is where battery drain and radiation exposure really happen, so your phone’s power is quite restricted there. Ideally, phones run uplink on low frequencies, which have long range at low power, and downlink on mid-range or high frequencies.
The X55 modem in the iPhone 12 generally pairs 5G downlink with a 4G uplink. That comes at a cost of latency, because 4G has higher latency than 5G, and sometimes a cost in coverage, because the 4G and 5G cells aren’t always physically aligned properly and there will be spots where your phone can access one but not the other.
But the X60 lets the iPhone 13 combine a low-band 5G uplink with a mid-band or high-band 5G downlink. That will improve the phone’s ability to make use of T-Mobile’s mid-band 5G and Verizon and AT&T’s upcoming C-band, and bring latencies down.
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Why should you care? Last week, in my meetings with Canadian carriers, they said the low 9–10ms latencies of pure 5G connections let you do things like pan around a stadium outfitted with 80 cameras for custom views, without feeling lag or drag. Also, better coverage is good.
More 5G Demand, More 5G Supply
According to Counterpoint Research, only about 15% of global iPhones are currently 5G-capable (the 12 series). The arrival of the iPhone 13 could double that, putting stress on 5G networks and making it critical that the carriers upgrade them.
In past network transitions, we’ve seen that when a mass of new iPhones hits a network, it can cause congestion if the network provider isn’t prepared. It happened with AT&T 3G and it happened with Verizon 4G.
With 5G, AT&T is the one really behind the 8 ball here. Its 5G is already slower than its 4G, and its announced C-band rollout plans aren’t as aggressive as Verizon’s. AT&T can see the iPhone 13 wave coming. Hopefully it’s prepared.
On the bright side, the increased demand for 5G will encourage the carriers to keep investing in their 5G equipment and filling in the coverage gaps we found in our Fastest Mobile Networks 2021 drive tests. That’s a win for anyone with a 5G phone, which is why you should care about the iPhone 13’s market traction even if you’re married to your Android.
Okay, What About Satellites?
You know what has really great coverage? Satellites. You know who’s going to be making satellite calls with their iPhones? Not you.
The “satellite iPhone” rumors have gone wild over the past few weeks based on a misunderstanding of the current state of satellite communications and North Americans’ desperation to have alternatives to their wireless carriers.
Actual satellite calling requires much more powerful transmitters, and usually bigger antennas, than we have in standard smartphones. It’s also utter death for battery life. To give you a picture, according to this 2017 paper, your phone transmits an average 0.0044 watts. A Globalstar satellite phone transmits on average 0.05 to 0.3 watts, with a maximum of 0.4 watts. So that’s between 10x and 100x the usual transmit power in your iPhone.
The best way I can square that with Mark Gurman’s assertion that the new iPhones will have some sort of satellite capability is that there might be something like an extreme emergency beacon. Like, if you’re trapped in a landslide in the middle of nowhere, your phone could potentially send GPS coordinates to emergency services. But really, I can’t figure out how this satellite thing would work vis a vis the physics of ordinary mobile phones.
And What About the iPhone 14???
At least one prominent YouTuber is claiming to already have details of the iPhone 14. I’m not going to name him or link to him, but I am going to say that I have zero respect for those sorts of shenanigans. If you’re trying to decide whether to buy the iPhone 13, decide on the merits of the phone that’s announced and released on Tuesday, not the myth of a phone that might happen in a year.
Even more than other phone makers, Apple plays around with prototypes, test features, and design tweaks that never make it to market. We can speculate about features that the next generation might, maybe, possibly have, but those rumors should have no bearing on the question of whether you, personally, should upgrade your old SE.
What Else Happened This Week?
- TCL showed us the folding phone it’s not releasing this year, which could have done pretty well if the high end of the US mobile phone market weren’t a deadlocked duopoly. The screen doesn’t have a crease! But TCL needs better carrier support and brand recognition before it can go head-to-head with Samsung’s Z Fold3.
- Mike Dano in Light Reading has a good rundown of questions we’d like Apple to answer. One of them is, Will the iPhone 13 work with Dish’s network? To which I will add, of course, You really think Dish is going to launch that network?
- There’s a teaser out for the Google Pixel 6; it might be launched on October 19th.
- The US and Canada are no longer in Ookla’s top 10 countries for fixed or mobile broadband speeds. The countries that are on the list focus on mid-band 5G and fiber broadband, both of which we’re behind on. (Editors’ Note: Ookla is owned by PCMag’s parent company, Ziff Davis.)
