According to an investment research firm, Apple’s upcoming iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will have some of the innards made by Intel. CLSA Securities analyst Srini Pajjuri said in a research note to investors that the Santa Clara-based chipmaker had secured orders for a “significant portion” of LTE modems on Apple’s next-gen smartphones. Citing Asian supply chain checks, the analyst claims that Intel will supply 30% to 40% of the iPhone 7’s cellular modems.
iPhone 7 modems to add $1 billion to Intel’s revenue
CLSA added that the Cupertino company was not looking to entirely cut its reliance on Qualcomm. The new partnership with Apple presents a $1 billion revenue opportunity for Intel. But it will have a 4% negative impact on Qualcomm’s revenue. Currently, Qualcomm supplies modems for iPhones. In November, CLSA told investors that Intel had lost out on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus order due to lack of CDMA in its modems.
Last year, VentureBeat reported that the 2016 iPhones would use Intel’s XMM 7360 4G modem with 450Mbps peak download speeds. The publication further said that Intel had deployed an army of “a thousand people or more” to get the XMM 7360 designed into an iPhone. The supposed partnership was said to open doors for Intel to fabricate the A-series chips for Apple.
Is Qualcomm’s modem better than Intel’s 7360?
Intel’s XMM 7360 modem supports LTE category 10 with peak download speeds of 450Mbps and upload speeds of 100Mbps. Its real competitor would be Qualcomm’s MDM9645 that boasts of 600Mbps download speeds and 150Mbps uplink speeds. Separately, Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC has doubled its production capacity for orders of the A10 chips that will power the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
The new iPhones would arrive in September with radical design changes. Apple is going to do away with the 3.5mm headphone jack, protruding rear camera, and the antenna bands. The new iPhones are rumored to feature long-distance wireless charging capabilities, allowing you to charge the phone from a distance of upto 15 feet. Latest reports suggest that Apple is also working to introduce a new iPhone Pro with a dual-camera system.
