SAN FRANCISCO -- Mobile World Congress Americas 2017 -- Apple's forthcoming iPhones don't support one of latest 4G upgrades now being talked up by US operators: Gigabit LTE.

Light Reading spoke to several people at the new MWC Americas show who said the vendor isn't implementing Gigabit LTE in the iPhone X and 8. (See Overpriced & Underwhelming, Apple's New iPhone Lacks X Factor.)

"Gigabit LTE" doesn't actually mean that the end user will get a 1Gbit/s down on their phone. A range of 100 Mbit/s to 300 Mbit/s is more likely on the shared medium of a 4G network. But that's still anything from three to ten times the speed of the janky old LTE phone you're probably still sporting, ya weirdo.

Unless that phone is a Samsung Galaxy S8, that is. Apple's main rival has Gigabit LTE support in the S8 and Note 8. As usual, the South Korean giant beats Apple in sheer networking firepower on its latest devices.

US carriers, meanwhile, have a few Gigabit LTE markets up and more coming soon. The lack of Gigabit LTE support in a major device release like the new iPhones, however, might cast a bit of a pall over the Gigabit LTE hype.

It is unlikely that Gigabit LTE will remain out in the cold with Apple forever, however. An intended part of the 5G spec is "dual connectivity," which involves a constant -- hopefully speedy -- LTE connection to buttress the anticipated high-speed yet short-range millimeter-wave connection. So, in the end, Gigabit LTE will be table stakes for 4G smartphones.

But not yet!

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading