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Qualcomm Hints at Apple's Switch to Intel for LTE Modems in iPhone 7
Qualcomm shares are currently trading lower after the chip maker suggested during an earnings call Wednesday that it will be losing orders from one of its major customers to one of its leading competitors.
Analysts believe that customer will be Apple, according to Bloomberg, following rumors that the Cupertino-based company will rely on Intel to supply the majority of LTE modems for the iPhone 7, which is expected to be announced at a media event this September.
Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Steve Mollenkopf told analysts he is “assuming” that a major customer will give orders to a rival, indicating a potential loss of business for the company. […] Samsung already uses multiple suppliers, leaving only Apple to make this change.In early March, CLSA Securities analyst Srini Pajjuri issued a research note claiming that Intel has secured a "significant portion" of LTE chip orders from Apple, likely in the range of 30 to 40 percent of production. Pajjuri believes Qualcomm will likely be tasked with at least a portion of the remaining orders.
Intel reportedly has 1,000 or more employees working on preparing its 7360 LTE modem for the next-generation iPhone. Intel's 7360 LTE modem chip [PDF] features faster theoretical downlink speeds up to 450 Mbps, uplink speeds up to 100 Mbps, and support for LTE category 10 and 29 LTE bands overall.
The switch to Intel LTE chips means the iPhone 7 could have even faster LTE speeds for browsing the web, downloading apps, streaming video, and other data-related tasks. Apple already improved LTE speeds on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus by adopting LTE-Advanced, which pushed downlink speeds up to a theoretical max of 300 Mbps.
Apple currently sources all of its LTE modems for iPhones from Qualcomm, including the MDM9635 chipset in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which provides theoretical downlink speeds up to 300 Mbps and uplink speeds up to 50 Mbps. Qualcomm has been Apple's exclusive supplier of LTE modems for over three years.
Rumors suggest that Apple may eventually create an all-in-one system-on-a-chip that includes both an A-series processor and an LTE modem chip for improved speed and power management. Intel could play a key role in licensing and fabricating the chipset based on its advanced 14-nanometer process.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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37 months ago
Intel 7360 modem is literally comparable to what Qualcomm was shipping back in 2014.
2016 is the year when mobile operators will start launching 4x4 MIMO doubling the maximum throughput, 256 QAM, and Intel 7360 can do none of that.
Current Qualcomm modem being shipped in volume is X12 (part of Snapdragon 820 SoC), which is already Category 12, doing 600Mbps peak rates, 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM, etc.
Later this year, around the time iPhone 7 will presumably launch, they'll be shipping X16 modem capable of 1Gbps on the downlink, more efficient than X12, and not even in the same conversation with 7360.
Sometimes decisions like this completely boggle my mind...
2016 is the year when mobile operators will start launching 4x4 MIMO doubling the maximum throughput, 256 QAM, and Intel 7360 can do none of that.
Current Qualcomm modem being shipped in volume is X12 (part of Snapdragon 820 SoC), which is already Category 12, doing 600Mbps peak rates, 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM, etc.
Later this year, around the time iPhone 7 will presumably launch, they'll be shipping X16 modem capable of 1Gbps on the downlink, more efficient than X12, and not even in the same conversation with 7360.
Sometimes decisions like this completely boggle my mind...
37 months ago
Qualcomm will likely be tasked with at least a portion of the remaining orders.
So, technically they are still chipping in here and there.
37 months ago
Stop giving Intel money!!! Plus this means massive delays, and that the iPhone 7 modem won't be ready until the IPhone 7s comes out and Apple will have to delay the phone release until Feburary!
Intel has been working for almost two years to build up their modem team. Just because you are hearing rumors now doesn't mean there will be delays.http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/10/iphones-will-ship-with-intel-lte-chips-inside-in-2016/
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/96372/20151017/apple-ditches-qualcomm-hires-intel-to-work-on-lte-modem-chips-report.htm
37 months ago
If the Intel chip is more power efficient and can increase the LTE browsing times then why not! I don't personally care about a jump from 300mbps to 450mbps. Those are just theoretical speeds.
37 months ago
Theoretical speeds are nice but connections are still degraded in many areas when you go into a building in NYC. Carriers in U.S. still have a lot of work to do to bring full and robust LTE to major metropolitan areas.
37 months ago
Stop giving Intel money!!! Plus this means massive delays, and that the iPhone 7 modem won't be ready until the IPhone 7s comes out and Apple will have to delay the phone release until Feburary!
You should pick up the phone and give Tim Cook and his staff a piece of you mind. Because I'm sure they're just trusting what Intel has told them, have not evaluated any first silicon devices, and forgot to think about scheduling.
37 months ago
Looks like you have me beat on overall knowledge of this subject so I'll concede that you are correct that there are other advantages to newer modems. My argument basically is that most users won't notice the difference between a Cat 10 and Cat 12 modem since they won't be hitting peak data rates of either of those anyway.
This is a common misconception. This is not about peak rates at all. Rather, the new bundle of technologies that enable the faster peak rates enable faster real-world rates as well.
The best way to think about it is in terms of relative gains. For example, from Cat 10 to Cat 12, the peak download speed increases from 450 Mbps to 600 Mbps. That's a 33% gain. And compared to Cat 6 - which was pretty much standard on 2015 flagships - it's 300 Mbps vs. 600 Mbps, a 100% gain.
Now, if you are experiencing real-world download speeds of, say, 60 Mbps with a Cat 6-capable phone, your real-world download speeds could improve up to 120 Mbps with a Cat 12 phone.
Is there anyone in the world experiencing this today? You bet - for example, Telstra in Australia has 600 Mbps service live at this very moment. And here's real data from a test run by Signals Research Group on that network, using the Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 LTE modem (equivalent generation of the XMM7360, though it's capable of 600 Mbps while XMM7360 is only capable of 450 Mbps):
Full report here ('http://signalsresearch.com/issue/mobile-broadband-down-under/').
But it goes beyond the user's experience on their phones. Even other phones on the network who don't have this advanced capability benefit when some users migrate to the more advanced LTE categories. That's because those users download their content faster, freeing up network resources for others. So the overall average real-world experience of users with older devices on the network also improve.
Hope this helps. Let me know if I can answer any questions.
37 months ago
Intel 7360 modem is literally comparable to what Qualcomm was shipping back in 2014.
2016 is the year when mobile operators will start launching 4x4 MIMO doubling the maximum throughput, 256 QAM, and Intel 7360 can do none of that.
Current Qualcomm modem being shipped in volume is X12 (part of Snapdragon 820 SoC), which is already Category 12, doing 600Mbps peak rates, 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM, etc.
Later this year, around the time iPhone 7 will presumably launch, they'll be shipping X16 modem capable of 1Gbps on the downlink, more efficient than X12, and not even in the same conversation with 7360.
Sometimes decisions like this completely boggle my mind...
Hopefully Apple reads this website so they can learn from you.
37 months ago
You should pick up the phone and give Tim Cook and his staff a piece of you mind. Because I'm sure they're just trusting what Intel has told them, have not evaluated any first silicon devices, and forgot to think about scheduling.
oh come on, don't you know that half of the people in this forum are better apple managers than the actual apple managers?the other half are busy deciding which ports should go on each device :p
(anyway, i think Pbrutto was being ironic)
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