Intel continues to supply Apple's iPhone 4G LTE baseband chip to fully upgrade 5G

  After the announcement of Qualcomm and Apple's "Century Reconciliation", Intel immediately announced the withdrawal of the development of mobile 5G baseband chips. Even so, according to media reports, Intel will continue to supply 4G baseband chips to Apple in 2019, which means that the new iPhone in 2019 may continue to use Intel's baseband chips.

According to a Reuters report, Intel CEO Bob Swan pointed out that Intel’s expectations will be in 2019 when the company’s first quarter earnings report for 2019 raised questions about smart phone baseband chips. Continued supply of 4G baseband chips throughout the year, including a new generation of XMM 7660 LTE baseband chips to be launched in the fall.

Market analysts believe that because Bob Swan has already mentioned the new generation of current XMM 7660 LTE baseband chips, it is expected that Intel will continue to supply baseband chips for the new 2019 iPhone. Because, this time point for Apple's new iPhone, it is almost too late to switch to Qualcomm's baseband chip. Even if it can catch up, the final result is likely to be supplied by two suppliers.

The report further pointed out that by 2020, Apple confirmed that it will launch a 5G iPhone, at which time at least the flagship model will be replaced by Qualcomm's 5G baseband chip. Because Intel does not say that it will not continue to supply LTE baseband chips in 2020, it is expected that Apple's old iPhone models will continue to adopt Intel products by 2020. However, in view of the fact that Apple and Qualcomm have signed a multi-year chip supply agreement, the proportion of Intel's LTE baseband chips in Apple products should be reduced year by year until Apple products enter the 5G era.