Ming-Chi Kuo casts doubt on 2×2 MIMO uplink support for 5G iPhone 12

Apple’s iPhone 12 may not support 2×2 uplink as initially expected, according to the latest report from Ming-Chi Kuo.

TF Securities’ analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in June 2019 that the 5G iPhone rollout would benefit WIN SEMI and Broadcom significantly, with the devices featuring six power amplifiers for 5G networking.

However, Kuo has now scaled down those expectations substantially. He now expects the iPhone 12 to include just one or two amplifiers. As part of this change, he no longer expects that the iPhone will support 2×2 MIMO uplink.

This reduces the theoretical maximum upload speed. However, whether the limitation will be noticed in the real world depends heavily on carrier infrastructure. As most 5G rollouts are still relatively new, it is possible that a user with a 2×2 capable device would see no noticeable difference in upload speeds.