Better but Worse, the Challenging Promise of 4G Smartphones

In this work is presented a discussion on the challenges in 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) smartphone antennas' design, also providing measurement results of the most representative devices. Both Total Radiated Power (TRP) and Total Isotropic Sensitivity (TIS) are measured for different frequency bands, showing that the newest phones tend to underperform when compared with less recent devices. The implications of these results are discussed and possible countermeasures are suggested.