Apple mobilizes suppliers to launch 5G iPhone

With the three flagship models set to include the most advanced mobile processors ever made, Apple is mobilizing suppliers to produce its first-ever 5G iPhones next year.

Lauly Li and Cheng Ting-Fang for Nikkei Asian Review:

[These new 5G iPhones] will also likely accelerate global carriers to roll out 5G telecoms infrastructure — especially outside China, which has already invested heavily in the nascent technology… Apple plans to ship at least 80 million of the new 5G phones, one of the sources said.

Apple’s heft in consumer markets will likely help accelerate 5G use. The company typically ships between 75 and 80 million of its new iPhones each year. A total 206 million new 5G phones will produced worldwide in 2020, MIC estimates, representing around 18% of all new smartphone sales.

All three of the new iPhones will carry the most advanced 5G modem chip, known as X55 that is designed by U.S. mobile chip developer Qualcomm, four people familiar with the plan told Nikkei… The iPhones will also feature Apple’s latest-generation processor, known as A14, that will use the world’s most advanced 5-nanometer chip technology, as made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., multiple sources added.

In addition, Apple is developing a new 3D sensing rear-camera that can sense the environment and detect objects for applications such as augmented reality games, sources said.

MacDailyNews Take: The “iPhone 5G” will be right on time (actually ahead of time in most countries) and usher in a super cycle like we haven’t seen since Apple finally began offering iPhones with displays larger than 4-inches with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in 2014.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]