Yesterday, Apple officially announced a $1 billion acquisition of the Intel smartphone modem business. In addition to reciveve over 17,000 patents, 2,200 Intel employees will also join Apple. The purpose of Apple’s acquisition is naturally to speed up the pace of self-developed modems. According to Reuters, Apple wants to introduce its own 5G modem by 2021.
The report explains that If Apple’s in-house 5G modem chip is successful in 2021, then we should expect a device with Apple’s self-developed 5G modem in 2021. Previously, rumors said that Apple plans to launch a self-developed 5G modem in 2025.
Apple’s self-developed 5G modem chip may not appear on the iPhone at first, but on devices such as the 5G iPad, for testing purposes. If Apple plans to release an iPhone with its own 5G modem chip is in 2021, it is a bit of a risk.
Reuters expects that Apple’s 5G modem may be used on the low-end iPhone model, high-end iPhone models continues to use Qualcomm chips, until Apple has enough confidence, and eventually eliminates Qualcomm, using self-developed modem chips on all devices.
For now, the upcoming iPhone 11 will not support 5G and will continue to use Intel 4G modems. In 2020, Apple will choose 5G modems from Qualcomm.
Image Via GSMArena
