Thoughts on 5GHz Wireless N Support in iPhone 4
Apple has really lead the way (in my world) in terms of Wireless N on 5GHz. My current network consists of a current-gen Airport Extreme Base Station and three AirportExpress units (via 5GHz N) as network bridges. Bridge 1 is in the office, and connects to a small switch with for printers (laser and scanner/all-in-one). Yes, I can scan over wifi, but that is a story for another day. Bridge 2 connects the TiVo in my bedroom. Bridge 3 connects the TiVo and PS3 in my family room. Then consider the iPad and my AppleTV. In short, I've gone to great lengths to move out of the B/G/2.4GHz space and am really hoping that the iPhone 4 isn't the reason that I can't get there.
I finally got around to reading through the iFixIt teardown report of the iPhone 4 ( http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone-4-Teardown/3130/1) and noticed that it uses the Broadcom BCM4329FKUBG 802.11n with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and FM receiver. A quick Google search later revels that that unit features integrated 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WLAN CMOS power amplifiers. Interestingly enough it also features FM receiver and transmitter (imagine an integrated FM transmitter for your car? and the ability to listen and time-shift radio like the current-gen iPod Nano).
http://www.broadcom.com/products/Bluetooth/Bluetooth-RF-Silicon-and-Software-Sol utions/BCM4329
So, here's hoping that Apple releases an update that both resolves wifi performance issues and enabled true 5GHz support. The FM features would just be gravy.
MacBook Pro 13" 2.4GHz/4GB/250GB | iPhone 4 32GB | AppleTV | AirPort Extreme, iOS 4