Apple rumored to be having trouble with 3G iPhone ramp-up
By Will Park on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 4:39 PM PST In Apple, Rumors, iPhone
A few grains of salt would be prudent in this case, but with the 3G iPhone launch imminent, any and all iPhone-related rumors are at least worth considering. Especially when such speculation hints that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) might have to delay the launch of the high-anticipated next-generation iPhone.
According to UBS Investment Research analyst Nicolas Gaudois, Infineon (NYSE: IFX) has issued a profit warning tied to the chip-maker having “received lower orders than expected” for 3G/HSDPA baseband chips for a certain “high-speed Internet phone.” Infineon didn’t go so far as to say that the 3G chips were destined for the 3G iPhone, but the consensus is that the next-generation iPhone will be powered by 3G chips from Infineon.
Furthermore, Gaudois has tied the lower than expected hardware orders to delays in Apple’s 3G iPhone ramp. “In our view the profit warning has been caused by ramp changes of next generation iPhone, into which Infineon is supplying the main High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) chipset,” said Gaudois.
Apple’s supply chain prowess was highlighted with their flawless launch-logistics in the initial iPhone launch, so it would be a shame if Apple dropped the ball in ramping-up production for the next-generation iPhone. It would be more unfortunate if these ramp delays led to launch delays of the 3G iPhone.
[Via: Apple Insider]
Perhaps the industry has already moved beyond 3G chipsets, which could be the real cause of Infineon’s demise. An anonymous Telsra executive said “We know what is coming we have seen the new device [3G iPhone] and it will be available on our network as soon as it is launched in the USA. By Xmas this phone will be capable of 42mbs which will make it faster than a lot of broadband offerings and the fastest iPhone on any network in the world.” This could be due Apple’s decision to skip the current 3G HSPA standard to HSPA+. This is exactly what Steve wants to do – far exceed our expectation, beyond our wildest expectations, if he can.
That’s a good point, Jim.
But that implies that Apple chose to another chipset in favor of the Infineon SGOLD3H that was supposed to be in the 3G iPhone.
I don’t care what Apple decides to do as long as the 3G iPhone does 3.6Mbps HSDPA (since we aren’t going to be getting much more than that i the next year in the US), and it launches on time.
But, HSPA+ would be awesome (as long as it doesn’t affect the launch window).
Will,
You are right – it doesn’t affect those of us in the US, since AT&T is only offering something like 1.5mbps, at least for now. Knowing Steve Jobs, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him (way) beat our expectations again by future proofing the phone with HSPA+. SGOLD3H has been rumored to be in iPhone, but remains to be just a rumor. Given the fact that there were 188 containers of “electric computers” shipped from Asia in the past months, with as many as 40K of these ‘electric computers’ in each containers, we can be looking at a massive US launch (multiple carriers??) with as many 7.5 million iPhone3G+ at hand to meet demands. Wow that would be nice. I certainly will want one. I’ve given my iPhone 2G to my sister last November, and have been waiting for the second coming of this Jesus phone ever since!
June 9th is taking too long to get here
So the iPhone is either delayed due to chip production issues or it’s already stateside in massive quantities.
That’s all assuming that Apple actually intends to launch a new iPhone in June, which is also just a rumor. ( I happen to believe that last rumor. ) All they’ve actually confirmed is the new OS and App store.