• iPhone Connectivity Issues Chip Related?

    iPhone Connectivity Issues Chip Related?

    Techtree News Staff, Aug 13, 2008 1310 hrs IST

    The multiple connectivity issues faced by new iPhone 3G owners could be due to issues with the Infineon 3G chip.

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Gigaom reports that the multiple connectivity issues faced by new iPhone 3G owners could be due to issues with the Infineon 3G chip.

Since the launch of the iPhone 3G, there were complaints related to poor reception and low speeds. AT&T was blamed - but the company denied of any issues with its network, while adding that they would look in to all the complaints on a case-by-case basis..

With similar reports started coming in from other networks as well, looks like AT&T might have been right after all. The latest news is that the Infineon 3G chips used in the latest edition of the iPhone could be the cause of these connectivity issues. Richard Windsor, a Nomura Securities analyst quips, "We believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain Infineon is the 3G supplier." If this indeed turns out to be an issue with the chip, it would be the second major reported chip failure this year. Nvidia grabbed the headlines a few days ago when some of its laptop graphic chips were found to be faulty owing to poor packaging.

To make things worse, these kinds of faults cannot be fixed by a simple firmware flash. It's not clear if Infineon makes these chips themselves or outsources the manufacturing to others. Product recall looms large? Let's wait and watch.

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Discussion Board
(8) Comments
Pat
,Mumbai, on Aug 13, 2008 02:22 PM
Lol! Techtree seems to be on a mission to down the iPhone in every possible way.
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Rohit
,No Ida, on Aug 13, 2008 10:35 PM
C'mon Iphone just goes to show how marketing is done.... Its a perfect case study for management students!!!
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RobC
,Brisbane, Australia, on Aug 14, 2008 03:54 AM
Oh, come on. The 3G performance of this phone is terrible, along with the battery life -- I know, I own one (two actually). 3G is so bad that I usually have it turned off and run GSM instead (which works really well in Australia). I had always assumed that the problems with this phone -- and there are a great number -- were firmware related and therefore fixable. It is somewhat concerning to read that it may in fact be a hardware problem. Cheap and nasty hardware perhaps...?
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Tim
,New York, on Aug 13, 2008 09:25 PM
Not sure who/what is to blame but the notion that it's cheaper and x2 as fast is false. Battery life is awful and reception on the AT&T network is terrible... if it weren't for the 10-15% restocking fee this phone would be going back to AT&T. Opps - the price of being an early adopter!
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Gibber
,Kansas City, on Aug 14, 2008 03:04 AM
So you bought an iphone for $200 or $300...and you can't afford a 15% restock fee? RIGHT!!
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abhishek
,bangalore, on Aug 13, 2008 01:45 PM
i think al d bad things related wid iphone cums to techtree frst in d world n dese tectree guys r realy takin lot of pains to goet dese info gud work guys even though u took money from sum othr mobile company atleast u r doin dis wid full sincerety.....
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PratikShah
,Bangalore, on Aug 13, 2008 02:18 PM
Even though i looooove the iphone, if someone were to pay me to write ... umm... stuff then... (i hope whoever did pay techtree is listening...)
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TheLaw
,NoWhere, on Aug 13, 2008 09:26 PM
Wow...my brain hurt from reading your post. You need to go back to 1st grade.
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