[ad_1]
September 12 Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) launched three new iPhones. At the highest level of its product line, Apple has introduced the iPhone XS – the direct successor to iPhone X from last year – and the iPhone XS Max, a variant of the iPhone XS with a screen still bigger. For more price-sensitive customers, Apple has come up with a product called iPhone XR, which incorporates many new technologies from the iPhone XS / XS Max, but in some cases uses cheaper components to reduce the cost structure of the iPhone. apparatus.
One of the ways that Apple has apparently chosen to save money with the iPhone XR compared to high-end iPhone XS models lies in the cellular subsystem. Apple says the iPhone XS / XS Max supports "gigabit class LTE with MIMO 4×4 and [licensed assisted access]"The iPhone XR, by contrast, simply supports" LTE Advanced "- as do the flagship smartphones from Apple 2017.
Image source: Apple.
Apple's choice not to endow the iPhone XR with the same cellular capabilities of the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max led the long-time Apple chip vendor Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) to admit that he lost some of the activity in this year 's iPhone range.
"Nevertheless, from time to time, not often, but punctually, the same technology platform used by our customers can extend beyond a generation," said Hock Tan, CEO of Broadcom, during the conference call on September 6th. . "And when that happens, it creates an opportunity for a customer to temporarily use less powerful alternatives in the selected SKUs."
Tan, however, said that "everything indicates that the annual upgrade of the platforms will resume in the next generation of smartphones in 2019".
This seems to tell us that Apple is planning an upgrade of wireless technology for the next iteration of the iPhone XR.
Apple's simple way to upgrade iPhone XR
It is clear that Apple had to do a lot of engineering work for the iPhone XR to be ready for the current product cycle. Compared to its predecessors – the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus – it features a new case design and a new display, in addition to upgraded internal components. The next iteration of the iPhone XR should be a simpler proposition: I think that Apple will keep the same basic design but will provide internal updates of the specifications.
One of these updates, if the Broadcom situation is correct, should be to move to a more advanced cellular subsystem.
What is not entirely clear, however, is whether Apple will continue to differentiate the successors of the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Plus from the iPhone XR via wireless capabilities or if they will have the same capabilities. Indeed, one of the reasons why Tan's comments might indicate that Tan is that if Apple were to simply give the next iPhone XR the same cellular capabilities as this year's iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, then Apple would reuse one of the platforms it used in the current product cycle.
I'm still waiting for Apple to continue to differentiate significantly the successors of the iPhone XS / XS Max from the successor of the iPhone XR, but cellular capabilities might not be one of the ways to proceed next year.
Ashraf Eassa has no position in the mentioned actions. The Motley Fool owns shares and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool offers the following options: long calls from January 2020 to $ 150 and short calls from January 2020 to $ 155 on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
[ad_2]
Source link
