Apple Might Acquire Intel’s 5G Modem Business

Apple will be sitting out of the first round of 5G smartphones by not offering any 5G-enabled iPhones this year. But that doesn’t mean Apple has forgotten about the next generation of communication. In fact, they have massive plans for the future by taking over Intel’s entire 5G division.

In the current smartphone race, 5G modems are primarily made by just manufacturers, viz. Qualcomm and Intel. By default, most Android manufacturers opted for Qualcomm’s offerings leaving Intel with little business potential.

Intel had one major hope left with Apple but missed multiple deadlines and failed to get the chips to Cupertino. Apple was in fact, concerned about not receiving these Intel XMM 8160 5G modem chips that they started looking at alternative suppliers such as Samsung and MediaTek. The situation did not improve and led to Apple cancelling its commitment to Intel.

Intel was hit so bad that they actually decided to abandon their modem business and stop the development of 5G modems. This situation rendered Apple 5G-less and left them with no option but to look to Qualcomm for modems. The issue here was that Qualcomm and Apple weren’t on great terms and have a couple of pending lawsuits amounting to over a billion euros. Apple not only settled those and dropped the other charges, but was considering handing the contract to Qualcomm.

However, a new report suggests Apple will indeed be sourcing them from Intel but not in the conventional sense. Apple is said to be in advanced stages of discussion to acquire Intel’s modem business and get rights to their years worth of R&D, patents and staff closely involved in the development. This will also help Apple control another element of the supply chain instead of relying on third-party suppliers. A confirmation on this deal is expected in the coming weeks.

In a way, this move doesn’t really harm anyone as 5G is still pretty nascent in most places around the world, but a wait of more than 12 months could just put Apple behind the curve and could cost them some market share.―Mashable India