Apple and Intel may eventually pull away from each other, but for the time being, the chipmaker is rumored to be the supplier for 70 percent of the modem chips that will be used in the 2018 iPhone lineup.
Per an anonymous source close to the story, Intel will provide 70 percent of the chips while Qualcomm will supply the remaining 30 percent.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously suggested Intel might be Apple’s sole supplier for LTE modems in 2018 given Apple’s ongoing and increasingly tense legal battle with Qualcomm, while it’s also rumored that Apple might use Mediatek and Intel chips to avoid working with Qualcomm.
“Intel will supply the lion’s share of the chips, but because 2018 is the first year that Intel is fabricating its own chips using its 14-nanometer process,” stated the source. The source also claimed that Apple plans to continue to use Qualcomm chips in 2018.
Given these plans, Apple may be gauging how well Intel fulfills this year’s order. Should Intel underdeliver, Qualcomm can make up the remaining supply.
Intel is reportedly not hitting its expected modem chip yield rates at the current time, with just over half of chips produced coming out in an acceptable quality. Intel engineers are, however, confident that yield rates can be pushed up before production ramps up in the summer months.
While Intel may not be Apple’s sole supplier for modem chips in 2018, if its chip production speeds up and kinks are worked out, Apple will transition solely to Intel for its 2019 iPhone lineup, effectively cutting ties with Qualcomm.
Apple first began to use Intel’s chips in the iPhone 7, which was released in 2017. The move represented a shift away from Qualcomm, which had been Apple’s sole chip supplier for its iPhones. Since early 2017, Apple and Qualcomm have been embroiled in a bitter legal battle, which has led to Apple’s efforts to cease using Qualcomm chips all together.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via MacRumors, Fast Company and The Wall Street Journal