14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is expected to unveil the new iPhone 7 in September, and while the company sticks with its super annoying secrecy, information coming from the upstream supply chain reveals that Intel will be in charge of making 50 percent of the modem chips to be installed on the future device.
At this point, it’s not yet known who’ll make the rest of the chips, but a report by Digitimes and citing industry sources reveals that Intel will build the modems for half of the iPhone 7 series with help from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and tester King Yuan Electronics (KYEC). Both companies will manufacture the new parts at their facilities, the same report adds.
The current iPhone generation comes with modems manufactured by Qualcomm, but Apple has been looking into the market for new partners since 2015, when it planned the creation of a device capable of reaching higher transfer speed.
Now that the new iPhone debut is just around the corner, Apple is believed to be looking at one of Intel’s modems that would deliver these speed increases, leaving Qualcomm without an important partner. Qualcomm forecast a drop in shipments of its own units earlier this year, hinting that Apple might indeed be planning to sign a different modem supplier for the iPhone 7.
Higher transfer speed on the iPhone 7?
People with knowledge of the matter previously told us that Apple was pondering using Intel’s 7360 LTE chip on the iPhone 7 because of the transfer rate that it can achieve: 450 Mbps for download and 100 Mbps for upload.
Apple is also believed to be working with Intel on further optimizations that would also optimize power consumption - the goal here is to make the iPhone 7 a battery monster and to offer figures that are at least similar to what you can get today from the 6s Plus model.
There’s also one interesting side of the Intel chip. The 7360 LTE modem comes with support for dual-SIM, but for the moment, we haven’t heard anything about such a project in Cupertino’s yard. But the icing on the cake is that the chip works on devices of multiple sizes, which could be another sign that Apple is planning to introduce a third model in the lineup in addition to the 4.7-inch version and the 5.5-inch Plus.
Recent rumors have pointed towards a Plus Premium or Pro model that would come with an even bigger screen, possibly a 5.7 or 5.8 inch one, and boast exclusive features, such as a dual camera and a Smart Connector borrowed from the iPad Pro.
For the moment, however, there are a lot of uncertain details regarding the iPhone 7, so while everything seems to make sense here, it’s better not to take anything for granted at this point.