July 25, 2019

Apple to make its own 5G iPhone modem after $1 billion Intel deal

By Tech Online Things

Apple is on its way to making a 5G iPhone with its own modem thanks to today’s $1 billion acquisition of the Intel’s smartphone modem business.

The Apple-Intel deal will see around 2,200 Intel employees will join Apple, along with intellectual property, equipment and leases, according to today’s announcement. In the end, Apple will hold over 17,000 wireless technology patents.

“This agreement enables us to focus on developing technology for the 5G network while retaining critical intellectual property and modem technology that our team has created,” said Intel CEO Bob Swan.

This means that Apple will be able to wean itself off of the Qualcomm modem that is in many iPhones and expedite the development of its own 5G smartphone modem, which is something Intel has struggled to do on its own.

Currently, the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR all have 4G LTE with Intel modems and that’s not expected to change with the forthcoming iPhone 11 series.