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Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

wsj.com

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Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#61

Post by duped »

aurareturn wrote: post #17
pram wrote: post #11

“Apple had planned to have its modem chip ready to use in the new iPhone models. But tests late last year found the chip was too slow and prone to overheating. Its circuit board was so big it would take up half an iPhone, making it unusable.” How is this even possible? I mean I get it’s hard but a 3 inch modem chip? lol

Wait, they needed testing late last year to figure out the chip was physically too big to be used in an iPhone? You're kidding right? Management didn't know until late last year? I call BS.

> Wait, they needed testing late last year to figure out the chip was physically too big to be used in an iPhone?

The area that a chip takes up is the physical size of the part, any passives it needs, and the space to route the traces to connect them all and meet noise/emf specs.

It can take a very long time to figure out if a part is "too big" because it requires iterative design/redesign time by engineers, and it's not knowable before they begin working with the part.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#62

Post by turtlebits »

mcculley wrote: post #51

Every time a new MacBook Pro is released, I check to see if they have figured out how to put a modem in it like they manage to with watches, phones, and tablets. This is an obvious example where the market is failing. The best explanation I heard is that the Apple deal with Qualcomm pays Qualcomm a royalty as a function of the price of the device and Apple does not want to give that much money to Qualcomm and/or rais…

Im sure they can, but then you start getting into product fragmentation.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#63

Post by layer8 »

Veliladon wrote: post #57
mcculley wrote: post #51

Every time a new MacBook Pro is released, I check to see if they have figured out how to put a modem in it like they manage to with watches, phones, and tablets. This is an obvious example where the market is failing. The best explanation I heard is that the Apple deal with Qualcomm pays Qualcomm a royalty as a function of the price of the device and Apple does not want to give that much money to Qualcomm and/or rais…

They literally have one click pairing to the Wifi hotspot on an iPhone or iPad logged in to the same iCloud account. Everyone has a phone. Why increase the BOM?

By that logic, iPads wouldn’t need a cellular variant either.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#64

Post by giobox »

Veliladon wrote: post #57
mcculley wrote: post #51

Every time a new MacBook Pro is released, I check to see if they have figured out how to put a modem in it like they manage to with watches, phones, and tablets. This is an obvious example where the market is failing. The best explanation I heard is that the Apple deal with Qualcomm pays Qualcomm a royalty as a function of the price of the device and Apple does not want to give that much money to Qualcomm and/or rais…

They literally have one click pairing to the Wifi hotspot on an iPhone or iPad logged in to the same iCloud account. Everyone has a phone. Why increase the BOM?

This logic doesn't hold - the same is true of an iPad. To quote you, "Everyone has a phone. Why increase the BOM?" - if it's ok to include cost of a modem for an iPad, it's ok for a MacBook Pro too.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#65

Post by mrtksn »

mcculley wrote: post #51

Every time a new MacBook Pro is released, I check to see if they have figured out how to put a modem in it like they manage to with watches, phones, and tablets. This is an obvious example where the market is failing. The best explanation I heard is that the Apple deal with Qualcomm pays Qualcomm a royalty as a function of the price of the device and Apple does not want to give that much money to Qualcomm and/or rais…

When you put a modem in a device, it becomes something completely different in the eyes of the taxman in some countries and taxes increase drastically.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#66

Post by hef19898 »

mrtksn wrote: post #65
mcculley wrote: post #51

Every time a new MacBook Pro is released, I check to see if they have figured out how to put a modem in it like they manage to with watches, phones, and tablets. This is an obvious example where the market is failing. The best explanation I heard is that the Apple deal with Qualcomm pays Qualcomm a royalty as a function of the price of the device and Apple does not want to give that much money to Qualcomm and/or rais…

When you put a modem in a device, it becomes something completely different in the eyes of the taxman in some countries and taxes increase drastically.

Also import taxes. And, above all, cost savings.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#67

Post by Eric_WVGG »

layer8 wrote: post #63
Veliladon wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They literally have one click pairing to the Wifi hotspot on an iPhone or iPad logged in to the same iCloud account. Everyone has a phone. Why increase the BOM?

By that logic, iPads wouldn’t need a cellular variant either.

This is correct.

Tethering is flaky. I was trying to tether my iPad to my iPhone just last night, eventually gave up and just read my book on my iPhone instead. If I depended on tethering for actually getting my work done I'd have an aneurism.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#68

Post by giobox »

mcculley wrote: post #51

Every time a new MacBook Pro is released, I check to see if they have figured out how to put a modem in it like they manage to with watches, phones, and tablets. This is an obvious example where the market is failing. The best explanation I heard is that the Apple deal with Qualcomm pays Qualcomm a royalty as a function of the price of the device and Apple does not want to give that much money to Qualcomm and/or rais…

There have been leaked prototypes with integrated cellular, FWIW:

https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/14/photos-of-a-prototype-m...

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#69

Post by yungporko »

layer8 wrote: post #63
Veliladon wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They literally have one click pairing to the Wifi hotspot on an iPhone or iPad logged in to the same iCloud account. Everyone has a phone. Why increase the BOM?

By that logic, iPads wouldn’t need a cellular variant either.

to be fair, they don't.

Re: Apple’s failure to build a key part for its new iPhones

#70

Post by kylehotchkiss »

mcculley wrote: post #51

Every time a new MacBook Pro is released, I check to see if they have figured out how to put a modem in it like they manage to with watches, phones, and tablets. This is an obvious example where the market is failing. The best explanation I heard is that the Apple deal with Qualcomm pays Qualcomm a royalty as a function of the price of the device and Apple does not want to give that much money to Qualcomm and/or rais…

I have to imagine part of this is how expensive data in US still is - 5g infra could likely support this but there's no way AT&T or Verizon will give a reasonable amount of data for $25/month which is the most I'd imagine somebody would want to pay for a device specific data plan
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