It’s no secret that Apple would love to develop its own 5G modems for its iPhones. The iPhone builder prefers to do as much as possible himself and also develops, for example, the SoCs that drive the phones indoors. However, Apple has no experience in the construction and development of modems, which puts the plans on hold.
Apple would now consider buying Intel’s 5G business to dramatically accelerate its own plans. The extent to which it wants to take over that department is not clear, although we can assume that Intel would be happy to sell its knowledge. After all, the chip giant pulled the plug on the production of its own 5G modems after Apple and Qualcomm resolved their legal disputes. Without Apple as a customer, Intel saw no good in a large 5G push.
Infineon
According to sources, Intel would consider putting part of the relevant business in the shop window. Probably the German modem department is central. Intel bought Infineon there in 2011 and is the focus of modem development.
News of Apple’s intentions comes from anonymous sources cited by The Information. Nothing is known to the public yet. It remains to be seen whether Apple will also consider concrete steps. If the manufacturer actually puts its own 5G modems on the market soon, this could be a blow for supplier Qualcomm. The latter will in any case still supply the modems for the first 5G iPhone, which in principle will be launched next year.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.