The next iPhone won't be the absolute fastest phone for downloading files or streaming music, because it will likely lack a gigabit LTE modem, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Apple sources its modems from two different suppliers, Qualcomm and Intel, and while Qualcomm's latest modems can take advantage of gigabit-per-second download speeds that some mobile carriers are now offering, Intel's gigabit modem isn't quite ready yet. Rather than use Qualcomm's modem exclusively for its next iPhone, Apple will continue to use Intel's modems in some models even though they are slower, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with Apple's decision.
The decision is not entirely unexpected, since Apple has varied its modem suppliers for many previous iPhone models. But it is particularly noteworthy now because of two recent developments: Apple is locked in a legal battle with Qualcomm, which it accuses of monopolistic and illegal business practices, and one of the iPhone's chief competitors, the Samsung Galaxy S8, has a modem that already supports the gigabit speeds that several carriers are now advertising.
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Neither Apple nor Intel immediately responded to a request for comment, and Qualcomm declined to comment. For its part, Apple portrays its smartphones as better than Samsung's, and judging by the queues of eager customers outside Apple stores following a new iPhone announcement, the market for high-end handsets doesn't seem to care much about the device's innards.
Those who do care might be able to divine the type of modem in their handset based on which mobile carrier they use. The Intel 7480 modem, one candidate to show up in the next iPhone, doesn't support Sprint or Verizon's CDMA technology, so it's likely that it will power the GSM iPhones for AT&T and T-Mobile, while Qualcomm modems will power the CDMA version.
The modem kerfuffle could all be sorted out next year, when Intel's new 7560 gigabit modem is ready. The 7560 supports both GSM and CDMA, which puts it in the running to take over from Qualcomm as the iPhone's only modem.
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