As several of Apple’s smartphone competitors have jumped on the 5G bandwagon, Apple will be late to the party as the company adopts wireless standards later than other companies. In addition to letting the 5G standard form a mainstream presence, Apple might also be able to procure standalone 5G modems at a better price, which are two reasons why the company could be willing to wait. However, an analyst is not confident enough that the Cupertino giant will be able to release a 5G iPhone next year and here are the reasons why.
Reports Says That Apple Has No Clear Partner to Supply It With 5G Modems for iPhone Models Next Year
Apple currently used Intel’s modems for its 2018 iPhone lineup, and a previous rumor suggests the iPhone maker was reportedly dissatisfied with the chip manufacturer’s progress regarding its 5G modem. This suggests that Apple might be searching for a new vendor. Analysts over at Barclays earlier believed Apple and Qualcomm will bury the hatchet and the latter will resume supplying 5G solutions for the technology giant, but their legal battle is far from over.
In court proceedings that took place earlier this year, Apple executives stated that it would prefer to source modems from both Qualcomm and Intel. However, Qualcomm has refused to supply Apple, which pretty much means the chipset manufacturer is off the table for now. MediaTek and Samsung’s 5G modems are also an option, but UBS claims that the quality and performance of MediaTek’s offerings are not up to Apple’s standards.
Samsung might have the hardware, resources, and talent pool available but Apple reportedly does not want to partner with the Korean giant for this component, which is rather strange. After all, the company continues to source Samsung for its OLED screens so why does UBS believe Apple would create such issues over a 5G modem? The UBS analyst also believes Apple might see 2021 as the first year for a 5G iPhone debut, and even that launch might be mired with technical difficulties for the product.
We certainly hope Apple finds a vendor capable of providing the quantity and quality of 5G modems that Apple desires or the competition will gain a massive upper hand in this category.
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Source: 9to5Mac
