Verizon and Chinese variants will come with Qualcomm chips

Jun 11, 2016 15:31 GMT  ·  By

Apple was believed to be planning an LTE modem upgrade for the iPhone 7, with the company said to be talking with Intel in order to replace Qualcomm as the sole provider of chips for the next generation, but it turns out that plans are slightly different from what all these rumors have been claiming until now.

A report by Bloomberg and citing people with knowledge of the matter indicates that Intel won’t replace Qualcomm for the iPhone 7, but that it will actually build chips alongside it, so some versions of the device will come with Intel’s LTE modems while others will feature Qualcomm’s.

While this report doesn’t align with hints dropped by Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf himself, who said that his company was going to lose a big contract this year, the same sources indicate that Apple wants to offer different versions of the iPhone 7 depending on markets.

Intel chips for AT&T iPhone 7

As a result, the Intel chip will be installed on iPhone 7 units supposed to be sold at AT&T, but also in international markets, while those coming with a Qualcomm model will be available at Verizon and in China. For the moment, there doesn’t seem to be any big difference between the chips manufactured by the two companies, but previous reports indicated that Intel was favorite to sign Apple for the iPhone 7 thanks to its 7360 LTE modem.

And yet, it appears that Qualcomm will offer technology very similar to Apple, so the two chips are expected to provide quite the same performance and power consumption. Intel’s mode, for instance, allows for download speeds up to 450 Mbps and upload up to 100 Mbps, and Qualcomm’s solution should get anywhere near this.

On the other hand, seeing two different providers for the iPhone 7 chips is kind of a risky decision for Apple because should problems be experienced with any of them, sales of the device could be impacted in the corresponding market.

Keep in mind, however, that this is still in the rumor stage, and nothing will be confirmed until the iPhone 7 goes live in September, so take everything with a pinch of salt in the meantime.