Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Qualcomm Expects Apple to 'Solely' Use Intel Modems for 2018 iPhones

so many misleading opinions throwing around in this thread. i work in a office with not so many windows now thn before, and i have to constantly connect to office wifi cause my iphone's lte keep cutting out. while my colleague's iphone does not have the same issue, and he sits 3 feet away from me. we checked and double checked. i have intel inside. moral of this story? it's not just about speed but also the quality of the lte.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mi7chy and lazard
sherifhanna said:
Actually the Snapdragon X24 LTE modem, announced and demonstrated last February, was the world's first 7nm chip.



Wrong again. Shipping devices with X20 modem already have better features, and demonstrated X24 has way, way more advanced features.
Click to expand...

Last February? You are making it sound like last year. It is this Feb.

And it doesn't ship until next year at the earliest. Snapdragon 855 which likely includes the X24 will chip next year in time for Galaxy S10.

X20 isn't better then Intel 7560 feature wise, and it is on Samsung 10nm LPP which makes it worst then Intel 14nm.

So when iPhone ship with XMM 7560, it will be the most advance modem on the market.
[doublepost=1532585041][/doublepost]
Breaking Good said:
I wonder how all this will change (or if it will change) when Verizon shuts down its CDMA network at the end of next year.

Somebody please correct me if I am wrong, but the way I understand this is that Qualcomm controls the patents for CDMA technology. At present the only carriers that still used CDMA technology are Verizon, Sprint and a few Japanese cellular carriers.

Verizon has already stated that it is shutting down its CDMA network at the end of 2019 and has already stopped allowing customer to add new devices that are not VoLTE capable. If the T-Mo/Sprint merger goes through, I believe that Sprint will shut down its CDMA network and rely on the combined T-Mo/Sprint LTE network for voice.

I also believe that the technology for GSM and LTE is owned by a consortium. So royalties are paid to the consortium as opposed to a company.

I wonder if this whole thing might resolve itself in the next 18 to 24 months.

Now what I don't know if whether there are other patents for modem beside the CDMA technology that Qualcomm owns where Intel or Apple may owe royalties.
Click to expand...

Well, it is not owned by a consortium, nor is there an organisation like Mpeg as the middle man.

3G is W-CDMA, and Qualcomm owns lots of patents around LTE. it isn't and has never been about CDMA only. which many people confuse as the reason of Qualcomm near monopoly. Qualcomm does work their ass off in network innovation. The pace of going from white paper to 3GPP Rel spec to silicon has been unprecedented in the last 5 years.

So basically yes, you cant get away from paying Qualcomm. The question is how much, which is what Apple disagree on.
 
IMHO Apple wants to control the modem, but couldn't go directly against a company who had a monopoly in the market. Hence they have been tag-teaming with Intel. Eventually they will have their own modem, but it will likely be after Intel + Apple are in over 50% of shipping phones
 
TimmeyCook said:
Took this at a crowded mall

fullsizeoutput_222.jpg


So... how did I do this? It's several times faster than the speeds that Qualcomm touts... and it's a Qualcomm modem...
Click to expand...

NICE wifi speed. A ping of 27ms is way to slow for a lte connect...
 
It's a shame us consumers have to get stuck in the middle a spat. If Qualcomm's current chip is better than Intel's, then I may wait and see if these 2 will eventually resolve their differences.
 
MoreRumors? said:
It's a shame us consumers have to get stuck in the middle a spat. If Qualcomm's current chip is better than Intel's, then I may wait and see if these 2 will eventually resolve their differences.
Click to expand...

As I have pointed out, on paper Intel will have the best modem in the market by this 2018 iPhone launch.
 
usersince86 said:
Assuming the Intel modems work as fast, this is fine. But I have my concerns...

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/2...-of-android-phones-with-snapdragon-845-chips/
Click to expand...

You and everyone else on the go are only using their cellular bandwidth for instant messaging and watching videos. Those two activities dwarf all others when it comes to mobile internet usage. Neither of them require speeds anywhere near the values being argued over in lab tests. It is the perfect example of completely true information that conveys nothing useful.

It is fun to bring up in pointless internet arguments though. I'll give you that.
 
Glideslope said:
The NXP Deal is off the table now. Let’s see the value over the next Q. :apple:
[doublepost=1532555031][/doublepost]

I thought Apple had stopped paying the license fees? Lawsuit? :apple:
Click to expand...

That's what the dispute is about. So it's cut off until the lawsuit is over, or until the judge orders differently, which is a big deal for Qualcomm. Apple maintains that a lot of that patent is bogus. Wants it FRAND. And the fundamental problem is the same as Nvidia. They want to completely control the GPUs in the phones. You don't get that with Apple. Qualcomm wants the same for their chip, plus huge royalties, which Apple maintains are fraudulent. And the news in this area is full of plants from Qualcomm and friends. So, we'll see.
[doublepost=1532621339][/doublepost]
heov said:
Do what you gotta do, Apple, to stay the most profitable company. If you can get a better deal on chips, even at the cost of a few Mbps, we will still pay you top dollar as if they were the best available. We'll let you keep the change, Apple.

Be sure to sue them out the door on their prized wireless technical patents, and be sure to protect your rounded corners (or whatever) and rubber band effect patemts
Click to expand...

Speed is useless unless general connectivity in all kinds of situations is top-rate. Latency, etc. If you can always get your videos or websites going no matter how far away the tower is, then speed is secondary. How about inside a building? Once we abolish radio and claim all that spectrum for wireless, you'll get the ubiquitous reception of AM radio, which goes through cement real good. When's the last time you had to use an AM antenna? Unless your radio is really crappy, you haven't.
 
This is bad news. Qualcomm modems are clearly superior. That may change in the future but as of right now there is no question that they outperform Intel.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BiggAW
adampk17 said:
They don’t call out band 71 specifically so the question still stands.
Click to expand...

True, but it happened pretty quickly.
T-Mobile bought the spectrum in April 2017 and started using the it immediately.

I think there was only one phone that supported band 71 in 2017 and that was the lgv30, and it was released in october.

Don’t think T-Mobile would sell a phone in 2018 without it, especially an iPhone.
 
FFR said:
.

Don’t think T-Mobile would sell a phone in 2018 without it, especially an iPhone.
Click to expand...


I would hope not, but it’s not up to T-Mobile, particularly not with the iPhone.

I’m guessing the specifics tech details about intel’s new modem just aren’t available yet. That a bummer, but I’m sure we’ll find out in the coming month or so.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FFR
adampk17 said:
I would hope not, but it’s not up to T-Mobile, particularly not with the iPhone.

I’m guessing the specifics tech details about intel’s new modem just aren’t available yet. That a bummer, but I’m sure we’ll find out in the coming month or so.
Click to expand...

It isn't really Intel's fault to be honest. The modem support a wide selection of bands, but it doesn't mean you can use it ALL at the same time. So Apple will have to decide which band it would like to tune for.

Assuming T-Mobile had engineers working with Apple Which they should as SoftBank has for a long time.
 
FFR said:
True, but it happened pretty quickly.
T-Mobile bought the spectrum in April 2017 and started using the it immediately.

I think there was only one phone that supported band 71 in 2017 and that was the lgv30, and it was released in october.

Don’t think T-Mobile would sell a phone in 2018 without it, especially an iPhone.
Click to expand...

T-Mobile doesn't have any say in what bands Intel decides to include in their modems.
 
lazard said:
T-Mobile doesn't have any say in what bands Intel decides to include in their modems.
Click to expand...

True but, Apple does, being intels only modem customer, can pretty much demand whatever they want.

Again T-Mobile wouldn’t sell a device without band 71 in 2018. It wouldn’t make fiscal sense.
 
FFR said:
True but, Apple does, being intels only modem customer, can pretty much demand whatever they want.

Again T-Mobile wouldn’t sell a device without band 71 in 2018. It wouldn’t make fiscal sense.
Click to expand...

Apple is notorious for being slow with adoption, so the new iphone not having band 71 would not being surprising.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back