The number of surprises unveiled during Tuesday’s iPhone 5S and 5C event were at a minimum, as many of the rumors fielded over the last few months turned out to be true.
However, the absence of 802.11ac in the new smartphones was a minor surprise for those keeping a close eye on Apple’s approach to evolving Wi-Fi standards.
Some observers expected Apple to at least match the Wi-Fi specs of the iPhone’s chief competitor, Samsung's Galaxy S4, which uses the faster, higher capacity 802.11ac standard on the 5 GHz band, as opposed to the iPhone’s 802.11n on the 2.4 GHz band.
According to Wi-Fi Alliance, the benefits that come with adopting the 802.11ac standard include higher data rates, the ability to connect to more devices simultaneously and overall reduced latency.
And while the backwards-compatible 802.11ac standard, referred by some as 5G Wi-Fi, theoretically offers up to 1.3 Gbps compared to the 450 Mbps ceiling of 802.11n-equipped devices, actually cracking the gigabit barrier via 802.11ac Wi-Fi is likely to be impacted by factors such as physical barriers, interference and network congestion.
So while the improved iPhone 5S is indeed a significant step forward, and helps push Apple back to the front of the smartphone pack, its decision to skip 802.11ac indicates that the company has no plans to play the spec-for-spec catch-up game with Samsung, as many had been expecting.
The bottom line: Apple banks on proven features that they can stand behind or improve upon, and the 802.11ac is still a bit too early in development for Apple to bake into their flagship product.
Do you wish the iPhone 5S had 5G Wi-Fi? Tell us in the comments, below.
Image: Mashable, Nina Frazier
No comments:
Post a Comment