Intel working with Apple to bring blazingly fast 5G to iPhone

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intel
Chips could arrive in time for the iPhone in 2019 or 2020.
Photo: Thomas Hawk/Flickr

Apple is reportedly working closely with Intel on 5G wireless broadband technology for a future iPhone, a new report claims.

The story follows previous claims that Apple is planning to drop Qualcomm chips for new iPhones and iPads which will ship in 2018, and replace them with chips made by Intel instead.

A “small army” of engineers

While Intel lags behind Qualcomm in this area, it reportedly has a “small army” of several thousand people working on its 5G chips. Intel views getting its chips into future iPhones as a “must-win” situation.

In a press release, Intel said that it has, “successfully completed a full end-to-end 5G call based on its early 5G silicon … a key milestone in its development.” The completion of the 5G modem is likely to be in time for the iPhone in 2019 or 2020.

Fast Company notes that:

“All of this seems to point toward the possibility of Apple looking to Intel as the sole provider of 5G modems for the iPhone. The end game, multiple sources have said, is to build the Intel modem onto an integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC) that would also contain the CPU, GPU, and other iPhone components. The SoC would be co-designed by Intel and Apple and would be fabricated at an Intel facility.”

5G technology will be capable of providing connection speeds of more than a gigabit per second. However, the move to 5G is a complicated one, which requires plenty of coordination between phone makers and vendors.

Recently, Qualcomm sued Apple — claiming that it has taken advantage of its access to Qualcomm code to help rival Intel by giving it information about Qualcomm’s technology. The move is part of a long-running standoff between the two companies.

Source: Fast Company

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