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back to article CDMA Verizon iPhone 4 contains GSM chip

The Verizon iPhone 4 contains a radio chip capable of connecting to both CDMA and to GSM networks, a detailed autopsy of the device has revealed. The take-apart was conducted by iFixit.com and exposed the presence of Qualcomm's MDM6600 chip, a part that supports both types of cellular technology when connected to appropriate …

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  1. uhuznaa

    Very obvious

    A while ago there was a video of an alleged iPhone 5 floating around the net. It looked identical to the Verizon iPhone, including the antenna gaps in the same places, just with a SIM slot. Might be safe to assume now that this will be the next iPhone.

    Certainly good news for iPhone 4 owners, because even with new chippery inside (dual-core CPU?) and CDMA/GSM capabilities the phone will be (and look) very much the same and such the iPhone 4 won't look "old". Apple did the same with the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Helps a lot not to devaluate quite new but essentially obsolete hardware.

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  2. Anton Ivanov
    Thumb Down

    Yeah... Right...

    Quote: there's technically nothing to stop Apple incorporating a second, GSM-tuned antenna too,

    Not in this form factor. The entire space usable for antennae is occupied now, rest is glass. If they go back to a plastic/metal back - maybe. Then they can etch it as a part of the back cover.

    That however will be perceived as step backward in "shiny-ness" so I do not quite see that happening.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Boffin

      Trap

      What's to stop them using 1 aerial and incorporating a trap? That would allow them to just use the same design as the iphone 4 (perhaps with a lacquer coating?)

      (For the non-RF minded, a trap in an aerial is a tuned circuit, allowing an aerial to appear a different length at different frequencies.)

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  3. JaitcH
    WTF?

    "nothing to stop Apple incorporating a second, GSM-tuned antenna"

    No need to, GSM can piggy back on the CDMA antenna and the degraded signal will be little worse than a Lemon 4, which everyone will remember, didn't stop iPhans from buying it.

    Maybe they could deposit an antenna on the glass.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    CDMA you mean CDMA2000!!

    Sorry to be a pedantic sod! but UK uses W-CDMA and US CDMA2000. CDMA just means the modulation type.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Which network?

      Which UK network uses CDMA? I'd love to know

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Megaphone

        its called W-CDMA

        All the networks that have 3G in the UK, its called W-CDMA.

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  5. Kevin (Just Kevin)

    CDMA vs CDMA2000 vs GSM vs W-CDMA

    To clarify - CDMA is an encoding technology. In the 2G days, GSM used TDMA and Qualcomm's CDMA kit used CDMA. Therein starts the problem - CDMA is a brand name AND a technology.

    Enter 3G - 3GSM (or UMTS) used W-CDMA as its encoding (the W is "wideband"). The 3G version of the Qualcomm 2G CDMA is called CDMA2000 and also uses a CDMA encoding.

    On the subject of antennas - it's not about the technology, surely. You don't tune an antenna to CDMA or GSM (brand, not encoding). You tune it to a frequency. If you have an 850MHz CDMA network and an 850MHz GSM network, the same antenna should work fine for both. The difference is that _most_ 3GSM networks are on 2100MHz.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Micky 1

    "Which UK network uses CDMA? I'd love to know"

    All of them. W-CDMA is the basis of UMTS, aka GSM 3G.

    As AC said, CDMA2000 is the weird Verizon thing.

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lotr ?

    One antenna to rule them all and in the darkness....

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