Ming-Chi Kuo no longer believes in an iPhone 5G with 2×2 MIMO support

Lately, every whisper of Ming-Chi Kuo generates more buzz than any news in the Apple world. It is that, with successes and errors, the Taiwanese analyst has shown to have access to the production chain of the Californian company. In fact, these days, he has been very active, it is that we are in the middle of the season of rumors.

Ming-Chi Kuo no longer believes in an iPhone 5G with 2×2 MIMO support

Kuo no longer believes that the next iPhone will support 2×2 MIMO…

This time he aimed high. He referred to the next iPhone and its presumed 5G connection capability. According to Kuo, it won’t go as far as previously thought. He warns that the phone will not carry the 2×2 uplink as initially “predicted”.

In June 2019, the analyst assured that the next iPhone would be very profitable for “Win Semiconductors” and “Broadcom”, since the new devices would carry six power amplifiers for 5G networks.

What is 2×2 MIMO?

MIMO, for multiple-input multiple-output, refers specifically to the way in which transmit and receive waves are handled in antennas for wireless devices. With the traditional format, the signal is affected by reflections, which cause degradation and data loss.

MIMO takes advantage of physical phenomena to increase the transmission rate and reduce the error rate. According to specialists, the information transfer rate increases significantly using different channels in data transmission or spatial multiplexing by having the antennas physically separated.

Specifically, MIMO is supported by a number of transmit and receive antennas involved in the signal exchange. Thus, 2×2 MIMO indicates the availability of two transmitting antennas and two other receiving antennas. Similarly, 2×3 MIMO indicates two transmit and three receive antennas, and so on.

Up to this point, Kuo maintained that the iPhone 5G would support 2×2 MIMO. But now, Kuo has lowered expectations of him drastically. He claims that Apple’s next phone will carry “barely” one or two amplifiers.

Kuo warns that the next iPhone will carry “barely” one or two 5G amplifiers…

You no longer expect the iPhone 12 to support 2×2 MIMO uplink. Which would translate into a significant drop in the maximum charging speed.

Obviously, this will also depend on the operator’s own ability. It is that, to this day, many of them are still “in diapers”. There are those who even argue that this type of benefit will not be fully useful for at least a couple of years.

Ming-Chi Kuo no longer believes in an iPhone 5G with 2×2 MIMO support