T-Mobile is touting 400 Mbps download speeds for Samsung Galaxy users, but what about the new iPhone?
T-Mobile’s recent blog post about LTE speeds may offer a clue about what to expect from Apple’s newest smartphone. On Tuesday T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray said the carrier’s network will soon deliver download speeds of up to 400 Mbps, thanks in part to 4×4 multiple-input, multiple-output.
T-Mobile’s timing in announcing 4×4 MIMO suggests that the next iPhone may not support the technology on the T-Mobile network, at least not initially. If 4×4 MIMO were coming with the new iPhone, announcing the technology one day before the iPhone launch would be a surprising choice. On the other hand, the company was clearly eager to throw shade at Verizon on the heels of the larger carrier’s news about LTE-Advanced.
4×4 MIMO means 4 antenna ports are used to transmit and receive data, so specialized tower antennas and smartphone antennas are needed. In addition, the smartphone modem must be ready to support four data streams. So far Qualcomm is the only chipmaker known to be offering a modem that can support 4×4 MIMO. Qualcomm’s 4×4 MIMO modem was used by Samsung for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, the two phones that T-Mobile said will support 4×4 MIMO on its network.
But what about the next iPhone? Apple has traditionally used Qualcomm’s modems, and if that trend continues the upcoming iPhones should deliver 4×4 MIMO. But Apple may not be working exclusively with Qualcomm this time around. According to Bloomberg, the new iPhone will use an Intel modem on the T-Mobile network, as well as on the AT&T and Sprint networks.
400 Mbps: 4×4 MIMO plus 256 QAM
T-Mobile says its network will be able to deliver download speeds of up to 400 megabits per second thanks to the combination of 4×4 MIMO and 256 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) for downloads. The carrier is also planning to implement 64 QAM for uploads. Like 4×4 MIMO, these advances will come first to the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge on the T-Mobile network. The carrier will implement the new technology by pushing a software update to S7 and S7 Edge users.
256 QAM and 64 QAM are modulation schemes. In general, the higher the number, the more bits of information can be transmitted by each radio wave. By packing more bits into each radio wave, and by increasing the number of waves with 4×4 MIMO, T-Mobile appears poised to significantly boost network speeds.
“T-Mobile’s network is America’s most advanced LTE network,” Ray wrote in his blog post. “That’s not hyperbole. It’s fact.” It is also a fact that smartphones need to leverage network advances in order for consumers to experience them. Samsung is clearly in step with T-Mobile, and in the days or weeks ahead we will know which other device makers are also on board.
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