Intel Might be Responsible for Delaying Apple’s 5G iPhone Rollout Plans

Yesterday, a UBS analyst claimed in an investors note that Apple might not be able to ship a 5G iPhone for 2020 and today, another report by FastCompany has noted that an “increasingly stormy relationship” with its 5G modem supplier Intel might be responsible for causing the delay in a 5G iPhone rollout.

Citing a source with knowledge of the situation, the report notes that the chip maker is struggling to get the modem designed in time for Apple. The company was expected to be the sole provider of the 5G modems in the 2020 iPhones but it has been missing deadlines for the development of the chip, the XMM 8160 5G multimode modem, the source added.

Back in November, Intel said that it expected to ship its 8160 5G modems in the second half of 2019. For use in 2020 iPhones, the company needs to deliver sample parts to Apple by early summer of this year, then deliver a finished modem design in early 2020.

However, Intel has so far failed to deliver on its promises due to which Apple is said to have “lost confidence in Intel”:

Our source says that it would make the most business sense for Apple to go back to Qualcomm for its 5G modem chips. But the legal dispute between those two companies has gotten personal, and egos are involved, so the companies collaborating on 5G by 2020 seems unlikely.

Meanwhile, Intel has issued the following statement in response to this article:

“As we said in November 2018, Intel plans to support customer device launches in 2020 with its XMM 8160 5G multimode modem”.