Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
If I was Intel, I'll tell Apple to screw off if they gonna play that game. All that money intel is pouring in r&d and machinery and Apple is gonna just play them for a fool. Not worth the investment, let them go back to Qualcomm.
That's why you'll never run Intel, nor Apple would like to supply anything from a company you run.
 
Intel seem to be in trouble on many fronts so this is probably wise.

Maybe intel will ‘do a microsoft’ and start to pivot even more towards providing chips for the cloud - and start to leave device makers high and dry.

Finally, I presume that Apple are developing their own modems to target 5g & optimise it for iOS (and ARM Macs?) so presumably they need to get third party 4g modems for the next 2 years or so.
 
Fake news. Will never happen. MediaTek chipsets for LTE don’t come anywhere close to what Intel and Qualcomm offer.
Until they do. You’re basing your information on what you know and what exists right now, not what Apple knows and knows about the future.
[doublepost=1530177429][/doublepost]With the amount of money Apple has saved they absolutely could and should be designing (if not manufacturing) their own everything: CPUs, GPUs, displays, wireless, controller chips, speakers, cameras, battery tech....everything.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bluecoast
Apple may choose to use modems manufactured by MediaTek instead of modems from Intel in future iPhones, according to an investor's note from Northland analyst Gus Richard that was shared by Bloomberg.

We will have to see if these modems will be used only for the Chinese market or in other areas. As it could well be a silent requirement from Chinese authorities : you should use local modems for our local market.
 
Intel looks like having capacity problem, the 100M Modem Apple's needs this year may not be easily fulfilled. While Mediatek would be able to Fab with TSMC possibly under Apple. Making capacity planning a lot easier.

One reason why Intel had difficulty with Modem? No one was using it, and hence no very little real world testing. MediaTek's modem is actually very well tested. And includes all the technology Apple needs apart from Speed.

And if Apple is moving it may be Intel just aren't doing good enough on Modem. ( This year is going to be crucial ).
 
Good. Intel's cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios have generally always been subpar compared to competitors.

The Intel 8265ac and 9260ac for example are better than their Qualcomm (ie Killer 1535 aka QCA6174A) and Broadcom (numerous Bluetooth issues to the point I replaced quite a few with Intel cards) counterparts stability/reliability wise. Never had an issue with their WiFi cards. Broadcom doesn’t even have properly working MU-MIMO which when enabled actually drops performance and my experience had Bluetooth issues, unlike Qualcomm/Intel client chipsets. Even router chipset side Broadcom is kinda behind.

I’d say at the moment Broadcom is the worst of the three. All the WiFi cards in my laptops are Intel, even the corporation where my father works all their high end Precision/Latitude notebooks use cards ranging from 7265 to 8265 and they prefer those over QCA and BCM (Broadcom cards) during order for reliability. At moment in my experience router side QCA9984 is the best WiFi chipset (ie in R7800, RT2600AC) and client side Intel 8265/9260ac.

Cellular side however Qualcomm is probably the best no doubt. Enough tests have shown that at least with iPhones to the point I buy the QCA sim free phones.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: liberte1776
The Intel 8265ac and 9260ac for example are better than their Qualcomm (ie Killer 1535 aka QCA6174A) and Broadcom (numerous Bluetooth issues to the point I replaced quite a few with Intel cards) counterparts stability/reliability wise. Never had an issue with their WiFi cards. Broadcom doesn’t even have properly working MU-MIMO which when enabled actually drops performance and my experience had Bluetooth issues, unlike Qualcomm/Intel client chipsets. Even router chipset side Broadcom is kinda behind.

I’d say at the moment Broadcom is the worst of the three. All the WiFi cards in my laptops are Intel, even the corporation where my father works all their high end Precision/Latitude notebooks use cards ranging from 7265 to 8265 and they prefer those over QCA and BCM (Broadcom cards) during order for reliability. At moment in my experience router side QCA9984 is the best WiFi chipset (ie in R7800, RT2600AC) and client side Intel 8265/9260ac.

Cellular side however Qualcomm is probably the best no doubt. Enough tests have shown that at least with iPhones to the point I buy the QCA sim free phones.

100% true. Been working with wireless since the late 90s and Qualcomm has produced top notch hardware for decades now. Your conclusions on Broadcom vs Intel WiFi are also spot on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: avtella
My iPhone X with an Intel modem gets absolutely TERRIBLE LTE performance, so I welcome any change. I live miles away from the AT&T headquarters, yet I’m constantly dropping off LTE or getting 1 bar in areas I’ve never had problems in the past.
 
  • Like
Reactions: makitango
We will have to see if these modems will be used only for the Chinese market or in other areas. As it could well be a silent requirement from Chinese authorities : you should use local modems for our local market.
Mediatek is a Taiwanese company.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.