Huawei may be open to selling its 5G modem, but only to Apple
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is allegedly willing to sell its 5G Balong 5000 modem, but only to one other smartphone maker: Apple.
To date the modem has been intended strictly for Huawei's own products, Engadget noted. The chance of sales to Apple was mentioned by a "source with knowledge of the situation," the site said.
Assuming Apple would be willing to work with Huawei, the soonest the Balong could make it into an iPhone is 2020. 2019 iPhones are likely being finalized if they haven't been already, and it's widely reported that they will continue to use 4G Intel chips given that company's slow 5G development.
In practice it's extremely unlikely that Apple would turn to Huawei, not the least because the U.S. has blocked the use of Huawei equipment by federal agencies, considering it a security threat in light of ties to the Chinese government. Indeed there's been a push in Europe and North America to keep Huawei out of 5G infrastructure, though that wouldn't necessarily impact modems.
The firm has also been accused of cloning Apple components and even rewarding its staff for stealing technology. Sourcing 5G modems would theoretically expose Apple further.
The iPhone maker is thought to be developing a proprietary modem for launch in 2021. In the interim it could theoretically turn to companies like Samsung, MediaTek, or even Qualcomm, which recently said it's ready and willing despite ongoing legal battles. The chipmaker already has modems going into Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G.
To date the modem has been intended strictly for Huawei's own products, Engadget noted. The chance of sales to Apple was mentioned by a "source with knowledge of the situation," the site said.
Assuming Apple would be willing to work with Huawei, the soonest the Balong could make it into an iPhone is 2020. 2019 iPhones are likely being finalized if they haven't been already, and it's widely reported that they will continue to use 4G Intel chips given that company's slow 5G development.
In practice it's extremely unlikely that Apple would turn to Huawei, not the least because the U.S. has blocked the use of Huawei equipment by federal agencies, considering it a security threat in light of ties to the Chinese government. Indeed there's been a push in Europe and North America to keep Huawei out of 5G infrastructure, though that wouldn't necessarily impact modems.
The firm has also been accused of cloning Apple components and even rewarding its staff for stealing technology. Sourcing 5G modems would theoretically expose Apple further.
The iPhone maker is thought to be developing a proprietary modem for launch in 2021. In the interim it could theoretically turn to companies like Samsung, MediaTek, or even Qualcomm, which recently said it's ready and willing despite ongoing legal battles. The chipmaker already has modems going into Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G.
Comments
NO THANKS.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-huawei-europe-britain/britain-managing-huawei-risks-has-no-evidence-of-spying-official-idUSKCN1Q91PM
I think there are easier options still open to them.
The Huawei that was in EE’s 4G network is being replaced and GCHQ experts in the last few days have said their are huge security issues just down to the really poor standard of coding in Huawei’s devices. (GCHQ have a unit that scrutinises all of Huawei’s firmware.)
Huawei have even admitted to this and have promised an improvement programme.
Given the other members of the Five Eyes alliance have banned Huawei from 5G networks, I’m pretty sure the U.K. will do the same.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47830056
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/03/28/hcsec_huawei_oversight_board_savaging_annual_report/
https://technode.com/2019/04/02/discussing-huawei-in-a-chinese-coffee-shop/
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-top-huawei-executive-says-not-even-xi-jinping-could-compel-it-to-help/
Why would any liberal democracy trust in a company like Huawei so well entrenched in the CCP.
Buy Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson.
Actually, I’m sure it would sell well enough; the general public is totally oblivious to many things, and a lot of people would see “5G” and buy. Not unlike the AT&T 5Ge scam.
Yes, that’s the real question. A lot of people are hopping up and down about getting 5G, saying how it’s absolutely necessary for the future, but I haven’t seen any mobile phone applications that actually require the capabilities 5G; the speed and latency possible with 4G is more than adequate. As near as I can tell, the only benefit for mobile users is that the cell towers will have a higher bandwidth so more people can connect to a single tower without experiencing throughput issues. I haven’t seen whether you actually need a 5G device to get this benefit, though. If all of the infrastructure will make it so I can consistently get full 4G speeds, I’ll be happy.
I haven’t seen this written anywhere, but to meet the claims of 5g, it appears the providers will need to put a lot of money into upgrading the backbones of their networks. This will likely benefit everyone, whether they have a 5G device or not.
Huawei is the top communications backbone infrastructure manufacturer - worldwide.
That's a lot of countries. The only thing that has changed is a campaign by the US government to try a prevent Chinese communications technology leapfrogging US efforts and gaining tech influence.
In a word, protectionism.
Much of the rest of the world is basically saying 'tough luck'. They don't really care about who has telecommunications dominance unless it is them, and it isn't. They care about products and cost.
17 hours ago Donald Trump told the Spanish Prime Minister to ban Huawei. He was swiftly rebuffed and Pedro Sánchez made it clear that that wasn't going to happen.
Huawei is a couple of years ahead of the game in 5G. It would cost governments BILLIONS to change tack on Huawei at such a late stage. And, in spite of repeated requests, no evidence supporting the US claims has ever been provided. Not even to, erm, 'allies' who the US is spying on anyway! We know this for various reasons, not least Edward Snowden.
But that has nothing to do with Huawei anyway.
Bigger question is company like Apple, how it could not see Intel's track record and put it's own engineers to create own 5G modem when we all know 5G is upcoming important tech.
I'm not going to pay more for faster 5G service that really doesn't do anything for me. I can already stream Netflix and Youtube, etc. That's about the most taxing of Data Streaming my smartphone will ever get. Since I can do that already, what else do I need even faster speed for?
Apple may be looking to license IP from just about anyone to make their own in-house modem. Once they have a working product they could slowly remove others IP as they replace it with their own.
Apple has been willing to work with Samsung who was their archenemy, or maybe their frenemy. Working with Huawei isn’t likely, but it might be good PR in China where Apple’s sales is struggling.
Samsung has long used one part in the USA, and another elsewhere (favoring Qualcomm in the USA). Something motivated that...
Huawei could go for the double whammy and offer Apple their spillproof keyboard too ;-)
Obviously that never came from Apple did it?
My first iPhone was the 3GS.
In today’s reality, 4G is still “good enough” for Apple to use until later 2020 because the true use cases for the speed benefits of 5G are still materializing. Apple has done this strategy time and again.
When 5G is prevalent, we may still be getting robbed by the rates that most US carriers charge. Thus, it will be just a faster rush to hitting a data cap.
5G’s true promise may be for in the home, giving the Comcast’s of the world a true run for the money with consumers wanting data access.
If the carriers are smart, they will realize that they can do much the same with in home options as they have been in killing off traditional land line phones for many homes. They would just help many to truly cut the cord. This will require easing data caps and reducing throttling of connection speeds.
One last thought- there is a time when we may all have high bandwidth needs but the infrastructure of the internet can’t truly handle the load, regardless of how we connect to it. It will be like a Ferrari stuck in rush hour traffic. Or the earlier days of the AT&T network when it was the only option for the iPhone.
The peasants don’t like being referred to as revolting!