Mark Sullivan for Fast Company:
After buying Intel’s 5G modem business earlier this year, Apple is wasting no time building its own 5G modem for the iPhone. The company is pushing to have its modem in iPhones by 2022, a very aggressive timeline given all the development, testing, and certification work involved, a source with knowledge of the company’s plans said.
For now, Apple is getting its iPhone modems from Qualcomm, after the two companies dropped their legal squabbling and made up in April… But given their past disputes, Apple and Qualcomm have an uneasy relationship… Apple management is leaning on its modem group in San Diego (also home, not coincidentally, to Qualcomm) to finish the new Apple 5G modem sooner rather than later…
Now that Apple essentially owns the Intel modem technology it will very likely move toward baking the new 5G modem into an Apple SoC.
MacDailyNews Take: That is a crazily aggressive timeline. Our sympathies to those working (much overtime) in Apple’s modem team over the coming years!