A latecomer to new cellular network generations, Apple is passing on the 5G MWC festivities as it grapples with sourcing 5G modems. The coming years could result in deeper integration into its product line than ever before, or a deep competitive gap.
For years, MWC has been a central source of 5G anticipation fuel. This year, though, is clearly the cellular technology's coming-out party. In any other year, the arrival of a smartphone with a folding display or second screen would be enough to ensure that a company was on the cutting edge of mobile technology. This year, though, the companies that introduced such flagships had to anticipate 5G proliferation. Even HTC, which did not introduce a new smartphone at MWC, had a unique 5G product announcement. In the run-up to Mobile World Congress, US consumers were more than three times as likely to share stories about 5G than folding phones, according to ShareThis (a Reticle Research client).
It may take years to find out. Let's look at the history of Apple's adoption of new cellular technology generations. Apple has been behind current cellular generations from from the start. Verizon launched the nation's first major 3G network in 2002, and one of the earliest 3G smartphones (the HTC Universal) shipped in 2005. The first iPhone shipped two years later without 3G; that would arrive in 2008. Verizon would again be first to launch the first major 4G LTE network at the end of 2010. But Apple would not offer 4G LTE support until 2012 with the iPhone 5.
The delay in supporting these network technologies did nothing to stymie Apple's unprecedented revenue run as the iPhone grew. But the competitive dynamic is different than it was in those days. In the markets where 5G will have the most immediate impact, Apple's phone business has cooled off. It is also being besieged by a phalanx of increasingly attractive midtier Android devices from the likes of Nokia, OnePlus, Motorola, and others that are more focused on hitting the sweet spot of consumer value than dazzling with folding capability.
READ MORE:
No comments:
Post a Comment