SAN JOSE, Calif. – Apple is expected to launch its iPhone 5 this week, sporting a custom quad-core processor, LTE, an upgraded image sensor and a new, smaller connector. Pundits debate whether the new handset will pack near-field communications and a larger display.
Apple has scheduled a press conference at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center Wednesday (Sept. 15). But the questions about just what any new device announced there does or does not have inside may need to wait until systems go on sale and teardown experts examine them.
Meanwhile, experts believe Apple needs to catch up with the likes of its Android rivals who are already shipping handsets with quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processors and support LTE.
Apple’s next A-series apps processor will likely include four Cortex A9s and four ARM Mali graphics cores, said Allan Yogasingam, a teardown expert at UBM TechInsights (Ottawa), a division of UBM LLC which publishes EE Times. In addition, the iPhone 5 will likely use the same Qualcomm MDM9600 baseband processor in the latest iPad which supports LTE.
Apple’s archrival Samsung and others have been shipping LTE handsets for some time. Apple might try to differentiate itself by using a baseband that also supports China’s 3G standard TD-SCDMA, said Will Strauss, principal of market watcher Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.).
“TD-SCDMA support would be a real coup because they could have a single phone that could be used virtually worldwide though you will never get all the global LTE spectrum bands supported,” said Strauss. “There’s a ready market for TD-SCDMA in China Mobile which has become the world’s largest buyer for cellphones-- bigger than AT&T and Verizon,” he said.
Apple's iPhone 5 is expected to pack a custom quad-core ARM A9 processor.