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Intel Has 1,000 Employees Working on LTE Modem Chip for the Next-Generation iPhone
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You're kinda missing the mark here people. This article is referring to the baseband not the CPU.
The real fear here is that these are the same people from Infineon that Intel bought back in 2011. Infineon made the baseband that was in the original iPhone, 3G and 3GS. And whilst they were awesome pocket computers, they had awful cellular performance.
The real fear here is that these are the same people from Infineon that Intel bought back in 2011. Infineon made the baseband that was in the original iPhone, 3G and 3GS. And whilst they were awesome pocket computers, they had awful cellular performance.
Well, the former Head of RF Engineering and CTO for Infineon is a Senior Director of Wireless Architecture at Apple now.
The inevitable shift to unified SoC is something it would be nice to have an experienced fab shop do. Today that means Samsung, TSMC, Intel. That's it. In the past Intel was unwilling to price them low enough to be in the running.
The other under the radar news is the new Intel and Micron 3D memory. China tried to buy Micron. It would nice to get most of Apple's internals with one USA vendor.
Rocketman
cites:
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/13/chinas-tsinghua-unigroup-makes-23b-bid-for-micron-technology.html
Not paywalled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsinghua_Holdings
Tsinghua Unigroup
Tsinghua Unigroup is 51% owned by Tsinghua Holdings and 49% owned by Beijing Jiankun Investment Group; this latter group is controlled by Zhau Weiguo who is also chairman and CEO of Tsinghua Unigroup. In late 2013 it made two acquisitions (Spreadtrum and RDA Microelectronics) each of which involved a payment larger than its market cap, suggesting that it is acting on behalf of a fund elsewhere. This is believed to be part of a Chinese-government attempt to consolidate the fabless semiconductor sector.[4][5]
I just think it interesting we are starting to have visibility of iPhone 7 and 7s.
The other under the radar news is the new Intel and Micron 3D memory. China tried to buy Micron. It would nice to get most of Apple's internals with one USA vendor.
Rocketman
cites:
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/13/chinas-tsinghua-unigroup-makes-23b-bid-for-micron-technology.html
Not paywalled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsinghua_Holdings
Tsinghua Unigroup
Tsinghua Unigroup is 51% owned by Tsinghua Holdings and 49% owned by Beijing Jiankun Investment Group; this latter group is controlled by Zhau Weiguo who is also chairman and CEO of Tsinghua Unigroup. In late 2013 it made two acquisitions (Spreadtrum and RDA Microelectronics) each of which involved a payment larger than its market cap, suggesting that it is acting on behalf of a fund elsewhere. This is believed to be part of a Chinese-government attempt to consolidate the fabless semiconductor sector.[4][5]
I just think it interesting we are starting to have visibility of iPhone 7 and 7s.
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If Apple fabs its stuff with intel... Well, all other phones will be in deep doo doo ;-).
Before I didn't think Intel would do it, but with the chance of Apple simply going their own way...
Maybe they see they have to open up.
Before I didn't think Intel would do it, but with the chance of Apple simply going their own way...
Maybe they see they have to open up.
In the first example the article was talking about possible LTE modem chips for the iPhone7, while the second paragraph you quoted was about future hybrid (soc) chips containing both the modem chip and the Ax processor.Umma...
The first three Infineon iPhones had poor connectivity all over the world. AT&T only exists in the US. So perhaps it is possible to know. Although I don't doubt that carriers the world over were probably swamped by the sudden upswing in data usage.
Um hello? First paragraph says Intel chip for iPhone 7. Last paragraph said Intel chip not likely to be on iPhone 7. Hello, is anyone home?
Intel has a thousand of its employees working on preparing the Intel 7360 LTE modem for Apple's iPhone 7 devices, reports VentureBeat. Apple is rumored to be switching to the Intel modem chip for some models of the iPhone 7, using it instead of the standard Qualcomm chips Apple has used for years.
Intel's 7360 LTE modem chip features an up to 450MB/s downlink and it supports 29 LTE bands. Intel is eager to score a contract with Apple, which is why it has poured so many resources into the development of the chip, which is supposed to begin shipping later this year.The LTE modem chips in the next-generation iPhones could be dual-sourced from both Intel and Qualcomm, with earlier rumors suggesting devices in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America could use Intel's chip. Intel is not yet an official supplier for the modem chip, but should Intel continue to make important milestones, it could wind up inking a deal with Apple.
Should work on the modem chip go well, VentureBeat says Intel could end up supplying Apple with both that chip and the fabrication for a new Apple system-on-a-chip. Apple is said to be aiming to create a future system-on-a-chip that includes both the iPhone's Ax processor and the LTE modem chip for improved speed and power management.
To achieve that goal, Apple would design the system-on-a-chip, licensing LTE modem intellectual property from Intel, with Intel also fabricating the chip with its 14-nanometer process. VentureBeat's sources say Apple is interested in Intel's technology because of its "front to back" 14-nanometer process that results in "silicon chips with superior density and gate pitch." Intel is also developing a 10-nanometer process that has caught Apple's eye.
Apple's system-on-a-chip project would likely be for a future version of the iPhone, rather than the iPhone 7. For now, the iPhone 7 is likely to continue using chips from existing manufacturers like Samsung and TSMC, along with the separate modem chips from Intel and Qualcomm.
Article Link: Intel Has 1,000 Employees Working on LTE Modem Chip for the Next-Generation iPhone
I doubt it's 450MB/s...more likely 450Mb/s. Big difference there.
If MacRumors doesn't know the difference between "MB" and "Mb" then they probably don't know the difference between "1,000 employees" and "100 employees".
Intel needs in. Their neck is on the line for low-end laptops which may use the A9X/10 chips instead of Intel.
You mean break the laws of physics? I don't know, that's a pretty ambitious goal. Maybe they can use some of that $200 billion in the bank to bend nature to Apple's will.
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Intel has a thousand of its employees working on preparing the Intel 7360 LTE modem for Apple's iPhone 7 devices, reports VentureBeat. Apple is rumored to be switching to the Intel modem chip for some models of the iPhone 7, using it instead of the standard Qualcomm chips Apple has used for years.
Intel's 7360 LTE modem chip features an up to 450MB/s downlink and it supports 29 LTE bands. Intel is eager to score a contract with Apple, which is why it has poured so many resources into the development of the chip, which is supposed to begin shipping later this year.The LTE modem chips in the next-generation iPhones could be dual-sourced from both Intel and Qualcomm, with earlier rumors suggesting devices in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America could use Intel's chip. Intel is not yet an official supplier for the modem chip, but should Intel continue to make important milestones, it could wind up inking a deal with Apple.
Should work on the modem chip go well, VentureBeat says Intel could end up supplying Apple with both that chip and the fabrication for a new Apple system-on-a-chip. Apple is said to be aiming to create a future system-on-a-chip that includes both the iPhone's Ax processor and the LTE modem chip for improved speed and power management.
To achieve that goal, Apple would design the system-on-a-chip, licensing LTE modem intellectual property from Intel, with Intel also fabricating the chip with its 14-nanometer process. VentureBeat's sources say Apple is interested in Intel's technology because of its "front to back" 14-nanometer process that results in "silicon chips with superior density and gate pitch." Intel is also developing a 10-nanometer process that has caught Apple's eye.
Apple's system-on-a-chip project would likely be for a future version of the iPhone, rather than the iPhone 7. For now, the iPhone 7 is likely to continue using chips from existing manufacturers like Samsung and TSMC, along with the separate modem chips from Intel and Qualcomm.
Article Link: Intel Has 1,000 Employees Working on LTE Modem Chip for the Next-Generation iPhone
A win-win situation, bringing some jobs back to USA, if Cooks stipulates the work be done in US fabs.
The real news is about combining the A(x) CPU chip to the modem. This would be a huge boon for battery life!
Intel has a thousand of its employees working on preparing the Intel 7360 LTE modem for Apple's iPhone 7 devices, reports VentureBeat. Apple is rumored to be switching to the Intel modem chip for some models of the iPhone 7, using it instead of the standard Qualcomm chips Apple has used for years.
Intel's 7360 LTE modem chip features an up to 450MB/s downlink and it supports 29 LTE bands. Intel is eager to score a contract with Apple, which is why it has poured so many resources into the development of the chip, which is supposed to begin shipping later this year.The LTE modem chips in the next-generation iPhones could be dual-sourced from both Intel and Qualcomm, with earlier rumors suggesting devices in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America could use Intel's chip. Intel is not yet an official supplier for the modem chip, but should Intel continue to make important milestones, it could wind up inking a deal with Apple.
Should work on the modem chip go well, VentureBeat says Intel could end up supplying Apple with both that chip and the fabrication for a new Apple system-on-a-chip. Apple is said to be aiming to create a future system-on-a-chip that includes both the iPhone's Ax processor and the LTE modem chip for improved speed and power management.
To achieve that goal, Apple would design the system-on-a-chip, licensing LTE modem intellectual property from Intel, with Intel also fabricating the chip with its 14-nanometer process. VentureBeat's sources say Apple is interested in Intel's technology because of its "front to back" 14-nanometer process that results in "silicon chips with superior density and gate pitch." Intel is also developing a 10-nanometer process that has caught Apple's eye.
Apple's system-on-a-chip project would likely be for a future version of the iPhone, rather than the iPhone 7. For now, the iPhone 7 is likely to continue using chips from existing manufacturers like Samsung and TSMC, along with the separate modem chips from Intel and Qualcomm.
Article Link: Intel Has 1,000 Employees Working on LTE Modem Chip for the Next-Generation iPhone
Umma...
It's talking about two different designs - one that is a straight replacement for the current modem and a future design where the modem is integrated into the SoC. One of those might be in the next iPhone.
That is funny, but I don't think this means 1000 hardware engineers. The figure may be greatly exaggerated and probably includes personnel in other areas such as sales, as well as things like QA.
That's exactly how it's gonna play out, too. Some third party will publish an article that iPhone 7s with the Qualcomm (or Intel) chip get better cellular reception/faster 4G/better battery life, and we'll have this bruhaha again where people want to return their brand new iPhone because they didn't get the "good one".
and this may be the reason why this rumor never makes it. I can just see the negotiations now -
Intel - we have a better modem
Apple - cool, will take a billion
Intel - just one thing, you will need to add the intel inside logo to your device
Apple - Oh... Well.... Um.... never mind; deal off; have a nice day.
Tim - Eddy call qualcomm
Clever, but you may launch a whole decimal point vs decimal comma brouhaha by those not getting your intended punYou mean the difference between "1,000 employees" and "1.000 employees"