Aaron Pressman, writing for Fortune:

Apple made several choices in the wireless capabilities of its new iPhone 7 that could complicate life for some of the phone’s owners.

None of the new iPhones will be able to go online using a spectrum band known as AWS-3, according to Apple’s specifications page. Carriers spent almost $45 billion last year at a federal auction for the rights to use the AWS-3 band, also known as LTE band 66, and are starting to put it in service. The carriers all also operate on other high-speed bands that will be iPhone 7 compatible, but they won’t be able to connect to the new phone with the additional AWS spectrum.

Here’s a link to Apple’s iPhone 7 specs page. Scroll down and see for yourself.

Continuing:

For consumers, that means their new iPhones may not be able to jump onto a band that is apt to be less crowded, and possibly faster. And Apple also made a choice that limits the ability of some new iPhone 7 models to connect to all four major carriers.

That’s because Apple split the manufacturing of iPhone modem chips between suppliers Intel and Qualcomm. Modems from the two companies aren’t interchangeable, effectively eliminating the ability of some iPhone 7 models to connect to all four major carrier networks. Although the two modem chips have many of the same features, Intel’s chip can’t connect to older CDMA wireless networks still in use by Verizon and Sprint for voice calling.

And:

The problem caused by the split between Intel and Qualcomm can be avoided by savvy phone shoppers. Customers who want to be sure that their iPhone 7 will work on any of the big four networks, preserving their ability to switch carriers, should opt for a phone with a Qualcomm chip, which encompasses the models being sold on the box as Verizon or Sprint compatible. They are labeled as models A1660 for the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 and A1661 for the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus.

Is this much ado about nothing? Is this only an issue if you intend to unlock your iPhone 7 or 7 Plus and switch carriers? Hard for me to get my head around this issue. It’s certainly interesting. Just not sure how big an issue this is for consumers. If you’ve got a detailed understanding of this, please ping me. I’m all ears.