One of the main upgrades to the next iPhone’s internals will be a redesigned wireless system featuring a new Qualcomm-made LTE chip, as revealed by images of a prototype iPhone 6S logic board shared by a source. As shown in the image below, the new device will include Qualcomm’s MDM9635M chip, also known as the ‘9X35’ Gobi modem platform. This new chip promises significant performance improvements over the “9X25” chip found inside of the current iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, capable of delivering up to twice the theoretical LTE download speeds…
The new MDM9635M chip was first introduced by Qualcomm in late 2013, nearly two years after the chip inside the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus was first announced. However, due to standard production lag times, the chip only hit the smartphone market one year ago, as the modem inside a South Korean variant on Samsung’s Galaxy S5. For end users, the most important new feature from the chip will be the potential for up to 300 Mbps download speeds, doubling the 150 Mbps download speeds found in the current generation iPhone lineup. The new chip has the same 50 Mbps upload speed limit, however, and real-world performance is likely to be closer to 225Mbps or lower, depending on the cellular network.
The newer processor also is more power efficient, according to Qualcomm, which could mean improved battery life when the iPhone 6S is used for LTE functionality. We are also told that the new iPhone’s motherboard is slightly narrower and more compact overall than the iPhone 6’s and iPhone 6 Plus’s motherboard, which could mean extra room for a modestly larger battery. Combined with iOS 9’s new power-saving features and low-power mode, it would make sense for Apple to also improve battery life by way of upgraded hardware.
Qualcomm’s new chip saves Apple some motherboard space due to its slightly more compact size. The “9X35” is built using a newer 20nm production process, more condensed than the 28nm process used for the Qualcomm cellular data chip in the current iPhones. The “9X35” new chip is Qualcomm’s first built with the new production process, which leads to power efficiency and reduced heat generation. This new chip could prevent iPhones from warming up when under intense data usage.
An upgrade over the “Category 4” chipset in the current iPhone, the new chip is in the category of “Category 6” cellular modems due to its speed. “The Category 6 speeds enabled by the Gobi 9×35 will allow customers to enjoy blazing-fast downloads, snappier application performance due to lower network response time, and run more connectivity based applications smoothly, as well as concurrently,” Qualcomm said when discussing the new chip.
It is still “backwards compatible and supports all other major cellular technologies, including DC-HSPA, EVDO Rev. B, CDMA 1x, GSM and TD-SCDMA,” Qualcomm later added. The chip maker also said that the chip enables smartphone makers to “design sleeker devices without sacrificing performance, while at the same time allowing operators to increase their network capacity and efficiency,” which could open up the door for slimmer iPhones in the future.
However, it does not appear that a slimmer iPhone is ready for 2015, as our earlier images indicated no easily discernible external design differences between the upcoming iPhone and the current iPhone line. In addition to more robust wireless networking and potentially improved battery life, we were told in May that the new iPhone will include a Force Touch display akin to that on the Apple Watch. We’re still tracking additional iPhone 6S details this week, so stay tuned.
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IMO Apple will really need to bump that battery if they want Apple Music to stay in the Green. I used it to stream Beats1 this morning for about 20minutes while getting ready and my battery drained almost 10% while using wifi.
Imagine being me and listening to Music all morning… beaming the audio wirelessly to a bluetooth speaker. At 4PM I had to come to terms that I would have to make it through the rest of the day on 10% of battery. Which basically meant no music going home. I got home and plugged in at 1% power.
Maybe Apple Music 1.1 can have a Radio Quality toggle to conserve bandwidth and power.
Low Power modealso might make a difference in IOS 9
Well that’s cool. Maybe the reduced battery drain would make a 4″ model possible after all.
We can dream… I don’t think there’s a new 4″ in the cards for those of us who want one back…
Ultimate dream is a 4″ device with reduced hight. Like knock off a 1/4 inch from the top and bottom bezel would be an amazing sized phone.
I keep imagining it as a whole new line. Maybe they do something drastic like drop headphone jack to make room. ugh. would be so cool.
I’d like to see a 5″ model. The 6 was nice, but not enough and the 6+ was just too big. 5″ is the perfect size for a cell phone IMHO.
Any word about what bluetooth chip it’ll be sporting? I’m dying to know if they’ll have BLE 4.2 capable chips out this year.
I feel like their Bluetooth stack would need to be updated to 4.1 first before they worry about 4.2.
Why do you say that? I think they will just skip 4.1. It’s not like its a necessary upgrade path. 4.2 requires completely new chips.
I think some of the features in 4.2 will play a large role in HomeKit devices, the next Apple Watch, and new headphones.
You know I think they would have to move to at least 4.1 just for this:
“Coexistence
Bluetooth and 4G (LTE) famously don’t get on: their signals interfere degrading one another’s performance and draining battery life”-http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/bluetooth-4-1-what-is-it-and-why-should-you-care#1lhLJA3WiZm1uf0x.99
It’s hard to believe they didn’t have it with the iPhone 6
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth#Bluetooth_v4.2
according to wiki, BLE 4.1 is firmware update to 4.0 chips. I read someone say that it’s os dependent and in iOS 8, 4.0 compatible devices are running the 4.1 firmware. I don’t know if there is a way to confirm this though. The specks page for iPhone 6 say Ble 4.0 but that could just be the chip’s default firmware.
I guess it would be crazy if all this time they have had LTE devices and not had compatibility with coexistence yet.
4.2 does require new hardware for the packet size change, which I think would affect apple watch and headphones the most. I think we would see that show up in the specs page of the next iPhone.
I can’t see them having a Force Touch display and then a physical home button. And word if the home button gets force touch too? I know it won’t be integrated into the display, but just can’t see them having Force Touch and physical button together..
I think it depends if they got the tech that incorporates touch ID into the display ready.
Or maybe not. I guess force touch would replace the capacitive ring needed to activate touch ID and the sensor could exist in it’s current location but just not need two separate mechanism.
I’d also like them to keep the home button (physical or not) seperate from the screen. But I’m not sure it make sense to give that area force touch sensors in addition to the the screen unless they can do it all as one big force touch area and only one part just has pixels and the other doesn’t.
There is absolutely no reason at all to get rid of the physical home button if you don’t make that space screen, it’s just idiotic.
Smoothie, what is the point of powering pixels just to display a button that has a constant function and needs to be globally accessible? It would be what android does (albeit with force touch).
I don’t see how that would do anything but fill some checkbox for “fullscreen iPhone.” If they went that way I think it’s more likely they’d move a physical button to the side. The apple watch already does that and it’s fine.
I hope they NEVER remove the physical button. There are benefits to a physical button. And force touch doesn’t quite fill that need.
What is it missing?
Interesting … !! :) so with iPhone6s all I get is this
1. New iOS
2. Faster Speeds with the new Modem
3. Larger Battery Life.
No design change
No Size change
Is it really worth it if I am around wifi 24×7 ? How will i show off to my friends that it is 6S when it looks like 6 only ?? :(
“double LTE speed” means double throttling down speeds from carriers. did i miss anything?
Only for those that still have the fake “unlimited” data. For the rest of us that means reaching their limits only faster new…. :( Limits are stupid small, even land lines have them now when then didn’t have them before. The only reasons for limits are for profit, no other need is required any more.
Increased theoretical speed means better battery life even if the raw throughput over a long period of time is the same.
legal
Great article, until I see this item “However, it does not appear that a slimmer iPhone is ready for 2015”- who is asking for a thinner iPhone :(.
Maybe the stronger 7000 series aluminium rumoured for the upgraded iPhone allows the casing metal to be thinner while retaining the same overall case thickness. Freeing room for Force Touch and other refinements.
still no RF360
The SoC is physically larger, too. This could mean more RAM and/or more CPU and/or graphics cores.
The 5c is the only iPhone that has a blue tick for its better reception in rural areas, will the new 6s have increased reception compared to the 6?