Huawei Hasn't Held Talks With Apple About Supplying 5G Modems for iPhone

Tuesday April 16, 2019 5:10 AM PDT by Tim Hardwick
Huawei said on Tuesday it has not held talks with Apple about supplying 5G chips for future iPhones, just a day after its founder admitted it was "open" to doing so (via Reuters).

"We have not had discussions with Apple on this issue," Huawei's rotating Chairman Ken Hu said on Tuesday, adding he looked forward to Apple's competition in the 5G phone market.
Last week we covered a report suggesting that the Chinese tech firm might be interested in supplying the next-generation modem chips to Apple. The rumor was later confirmed on Monday, when CNBC published an interview with Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei in which he said the same thing.

The Chinese tech firm develops its own components including processors and modem chips, but has previously refused to supply them to third-parties, making its self-declared openness to sell to Apple all the more notable.

However, Apple has expressed no interest in using Huawei tech, despite potential suitability for Apple devices. That could be related to Huawei's dispute with the U.S. government, or perhaps Apple's own accusations that the firm uses "dubious tactics" to steal trade secrets.

Apple is rumored to be struggling in its plans to support 5G technology, with plans to introduce a 5G iPhone in 2020 stymied by partner Intel's inability to meet its own production timeline.

Switching to Qualcomm 5G chips instead seems increasingly unlikely, given Apple's ongoing legal battle with the company. Meanwhile, Apple has been in talks with Samsung and MediaTek about making 5G chips for 2020 iPhones, but there's no word on how discussions have been going.

Apple is also working on its own LTE chip designs for future iPhones, but that technology is not expected to be ready to ship until 2021.

Tags: Huawei, 5G
19 comments


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cableguy84
9 weeks ago
There is a 0% chance Huawei modems will be in a future iphone
Rating: 5 Votes
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Mansu944
9 weeks ago
Good. Why do they think anyone would want that?
Rating: 3 Votes
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cableguy84
9 weeks ago

Really. 0% ?

Yea
Rating: 3 Votes
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Dormammu
9 weeks ago
Nah, never happening.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Strokee
9 weeks ago

But 5G doesn't need to be widely available, carriers just need to advertise it and if they can provide it even if in limited areas people will want it. Nobody is going to say, my carrier is offering 5G but it's not widely available so I'm going to pick up another 4G phone, they'll want the newest technology and this is where not having a 5G phone on the market will be an issue. I won't purchase another 4G only phone, my next will be 5G that'll fall back to 4G if not available or I don't want it and I'm sure a lot of people will think the same.
But this is just what I believe so we'll have to see if it has a negative effect or not.


You're saying what I've said for a while now. If falls on deaf ears in these forums, though. There is too much blind Apple loyalty on this site, and then the pro-Android people come in with their blind-loyalty to Samsung, etc. and make things worse. Objective individuals with rational opinions are lumped in with them as "Apple haters."
Rating: 2 Votes
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Intellectua1
9 weeks ago

“5g ready” could mean anything, but there are no countries with widely available 5G.

The closest is South Korea, but even if it was widely available it is a country with a population slightly greater than California and a 30% iOS market share.

The US is likely to be the first country with wide 5G availability, with South Korea, Japan, and China close behind.

But 5G doesn't need to be widely available, carriers just need to advertise it and if they can provide it even if in limited areas people will want it. Nobody is going to say, my carrier is offering 5G but it's not widely available so I'm going to pick up another 4G phone, they'll want the newest technology and this is where not having a 5G phone on the market will be an issue. I won't purchase another 4G only phone, my next will be 5G that'll fall back to 4G if not available or I don't want it and I'm sure a lot of people will think the same.
But this is just what I believe so we'll have to see if it has a negative effect or not.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
az431
9 weeks ago

Imagine being in a country that's 5G ready but you don't have a 5G compatible device for sale. I know a lot of people say 5G won't matter until 2020-21 so they don't care, but they forget the US isn't Apple's only market. There are countries who are 5G ready and those people aren't going to keep buying 4G phones, this may or may not have an affect on iPhone sales who knows but I can imagine this won't be good, especially in China.


“5g ready” could mean anything, but there are no countries with widely available 5G.

The closest is South Korea, but even if it was widely available it is a country with a population slightly greater than California and a 30% iOS market share.

The US is likely to be the first country with wide 5G availability, with South Korea, Japan, and China close behind.
Rating: 1 Votes
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apolloa
9 weeks ago
Thank God... rather Qualcomm or Intel, that’s it unless Samsung make them some day.
Rating: 1 Votes
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Intellectua1
9 weeks ago
Imagine being in a country that's 5G ready but you don't have a 5G compatible device for sale. I know a lot of people say 5G won't matter until 2020-21 so they don't care, but they forget the US isn't Apple's only market. There are countries who are 5G ready and those people aren't going to keep buying 4G phones, this may or may not have an affect on iPhone sales who knows but I can imagine this won't be good, especially in China.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
julesme
9 weeks ago

Really. 0% ?


It’s so close to zero, we could start talking about the central limit theorem.

The US govt. might not even allow it based on national security concerns (see press reports and commentary from early 2018 in Bloomberg and the Verge regarding AT&T and Verizon’s decisions not to sell Huawei devices).
Rating: 1 Votes
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