The world’s tech giant Apple is looking forward to building its own 5G modem and may bring it in iPhone models by the year 2022. A report from Fast Company says that Apple is expected to introduce its first iPhone model with its own 5G modem by September 2020, and the iPhone will have Qualcomm chip inside.
Fast Company’s Mark Sullivan writes, “The SoC integration may not happen right away, my source says. Given the tight timeframe for delivering a modem in 2022, Apple may choose to make its first 5G modem a stand-alone chip, and then integrate it into an SoC the following year”.
For your knowledge, Apple has bought Intel’s modem business earlier this year to develop its own networking hardware without being dependent on others. This shows that Apple is serious to take control of its 5G technology.
The report also suggests that Esin Terzioglu, who worked as vice president of engineering in Qualcomm is now working with Apple since 2017, and he is the one who is likely to be appointed to lead the Apple’s development of next-gen modem.
The fight between Apple and the leading 5G modem provider, Qualcomm over its license fees resulted in Apple not working with Qualcomm anymore. However, the dispute between these two tech giants settled in April at an undisclosed amount. According to the settlement, Apple is bound to buy Qualcomm’s 5G chip as well as to use it as part of its 5G-enabled iPhone, which is scheduled to launch next year.
According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, all three iPhone models coming next year will support 5G technology. He made this statement in July this year.
