[MUSIC]
What's happening?
Brian Tong here, and welcome to the Apple Byte for everything good and bad inside the world of Apple.
It's a short week for the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, and guess where I'm going?
Yes, starts with an H and ends with an I. And I'll read your comments in the guesses below.
Now let's get to the show and the biggest story in the Apple world is all about the antennas in the iPhone 7. And don't start screaming antenna gate right now.
Now we've been talking all about it on the Apple Byte Extra Crunchy audio podcast.
So check it out if you wanna dig even deeper inside the world with Apple.
But here's the breakdown of what we know so far.
Apple is using two different LTE antennas inside the iPhone 7. An Intel modem is inside AT&T mobile phones, while a Qualcomm modem is inside the Verizon and Sprint iPhones.
Now independent testing by Cellular Cellular insights found that the Qualcomm based phones, like the Verizon iPhone 7 outperformed an AT&T iPhone 7 by 75% when it came down to data speeds with a low signal.
Think about something like one dot on your phone.
And I knew something was different, especially on my daily commute, even before this was revealed.
That hasn't been disputed.
Now a recent report from Bloomberg claimed Apple might be throttling Verizon's LTE performance with a Qualcomm modem in order to make it perform similarly to the Intel chip that's in other phones.
The Qualcomm hardware is theoretically capable of a maximum 600 megabits per second for download speeds.
Compared to the Intel modem that's topped out at 450 megabytes per second.
Recode has now confirmed this to be true.
But really, there's nothing we can do about Apple holding back the Qualcomm modem chip because it's in their best interest to have all phones perform similarly.
Even with LT connectivity.
You have locations, single strength, number of users on the network.
The demand for data depending on your task, it's going to change.
So here's Apple's official statement.
In all of our rigorous lab tests based on wireless industry standards, in thousands of hours of real-world testing, and in extensive carrier partner testing, the data shows there is no discernible difference in the wireless performance of any of the models.
Now I'm more curious, how much better would iPhone 7s be across the board If all of them would have been equipped with the Qualcomm modem?
And the answer is we'll never know.
But again, this is not another intended gate.
I know you might be frustrated, but you're gonna have to get over it.
It's more like a, what could have been but it's not.
So you know what?
Let's just move right along.
All right, a Bloomberg report also says Apple has completely disbanded its wireless router division in order to sharpen its focus on products that can make them more revenue, according to their sources.
The decision hasn't been publicly announced.
We haven't seen an Airport refreshed since 2013.
You know what, I'm just going to throw a bad apple on that one.
Yeah, and it's likely we'll never see a new airport express, airport extreme, or airport time capsule.
So, don't buy one right now.
And let's be honest, they may look pretty-ish but companies, like D'Link or Netgear, are ahead in the game.
Now Apple also recently stopped making it's own external monitors And instead announced new displays in a partnership with LG but come on they're really LG displays.
We won't give Airport the Apply bye sendoff until they are officially announced as gone so we'll just have to wait for that.
[SOUND] And now Apple is now stepping up to handle iPhone issues that we've criticized them for ignoring.
Apple has launched an iPhone six plus touch disease repair program, they call it the multi touch repair program, where you can get your six plus repaired.
For $149, but you know what?
It's a little too late for me, especially for an issue that started popping up a year later.
And guess what?
We're now at year two.
Now most people have already taken the most popular Apple iPhone repair route.
It's called Buy a new iPhone.
And the Big A has also opened up another repair program for iPhone 6s users who's devices may be unexpectedly shutting down.
It only effects certain devices manufactured between September and October of 2015.
You'll need to contact Apple to see if your phone's serial number is within this range.
But, Apple will replace the battery of your device.
Free of charge.
And just a fun video we're checking out we've already ripped on the Applebook enough and yes I know it is so pretty.
But 512 pixels blogger Stephen Hackett created this fun video with some of the actual products side by side with the book and I liked it.
So I'm telling you about it so you can watch it.
All right that's gonna do it for this weeks show, you can email us at the applebyte@cnet.com or tweet me at Brian Thanks so much for watching.
We'll catch y'all next time for another bite of the apple.
[MUSIC]
This is cool.
Wow.
Watch out for that cliff.
Open water.
It's really nice and peaceful.
Dude, dude, not the branch.
Okay, hey there, yeah.
So are we doing this?
I guess we are.
Woo.
[SOUND]
Hi grandma.
[MUSIC]
Wow, this is easy.
Hey let's go in this person's apartment.
I'm right behind you.
Hey pick up your phone.
Pick it up.
[MUSIC]
Happy Birthday, wooh!
[MUSIC]
Wow, that's a lot of balloons.
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