Apple escalating use of Intel modems for 'iPhone 8' - report
Faced with an ongoing legal battle with Qualcomm, Apple is reportedly ramping up its use of Intel baseband chips in iPhones -- despite previously weak performance from Intel's parts.
While Intel supplied about 30 percent of Apple's iPhone 7 chips in 2016, the proportion has risen to about 50 percent for new iPhones in 2017, DigiTimes said on Thursday. Some market watchers cited by the publication suggest that the ratio could go past 70 percent in 2018, since Apple and Qualcomm have so far been unwilling to make concessions.
When Apple began using Intel's chips last year, the components were found only in GSM-based iPhones for AT&T and T-Mobile, since Intel didn't yet have CDMA-compatible technology for carriers like Sprint and Verizon. In fact it was discovered that Apple was deliberately limiting the performance of Qualcomm chips, since Intel's chips had substantially lower peak bandwidth.
Since then, however, Intel has launched its XMM 7560 LTE modem, which supports CDMA and can theoretically hit gigabit speeds. The chip will presumably find its way into Apple's "iPhone 8," and possibly the "iPhone 7s" and "7s Plus."
Apple launched a lawsuit against Qualcomm in January, leveling many accusations, for instance saying that Qualcomm was abusing its "monopoly power" to demand high royalties and force chip buyers to license patents. Above all it charged that Qualcomm was withholding almost $1 billion in rebates in retaliation for helping a South Korean antitrust investigation.
A countersuit was launched in April, and since then Qualcomm has also sought a court order asking that Apple's suppliers keep paying royalties. Those suppliers stopped paying Qualcomm earlier this year.
While Intel supplied about 30 percent of Apple's iPhone 7 chips in 2016, the proportion has risen to about 50 percent for new iPhones in 2017, DigiTimes said on Thursday. Some market watchers cited by the publication suggest that the ratio could go past 70 percent in 2018, since Apple and Qualcomm have so far been unwilling to make concessions.
When Apple began using Intel's chips last year, the components were found only in GSM-based iPhones for AT&T and T-Mobile, since Intel didn't yet have CDMA-compatible technology for carriers like Sprint and Verizon. In fact it was discovered that Apple was deliberately limiting the performance of Qualcomm chips, since Intel's chips had substantially lower peak bandwidth.
Since then, however, Intel has launched its XMM 7560 LTE modem, which supports CDMA and can theoretically hit gigabit speeds. The chip will presumably find its way into Apple's "iPhone 8," and possibly the "iPhone 7s" and "7s Plus."
Apple launched a lawsuit against Qualcomm in January, leveling many accusations, for instance saying that Qualcomm was abusing its "monopoly power" to demand high royalties and force chip buyers to license patents. Above all it charged that Qualcomm was withholding almost $1 billion in rebates in retaliation for helping a South Korean antitrust investigation.
A countersuit was launched in April, and since then Qualcomm has also sought a court order asking that Apple's suppliers keep paying royalties. Those suppliers stopped paying Qualcomm earlier this year.
Comments
I just checked (because I never cared before) and I have the Intel modem. Works great! Again, it's typically faster than I could care for it to be (About 36Mb download and 16Mb upload with 3 bars). I guess maybe I'm just still amazed that I get that sort of bandwidth on a device that fits in my pocket no matter where I take it.
I have an iPhone 6S so I assume it's using Qualcomm's chips. My Verizon LTE coverage is weak where I live, only getting 7.8 down and 0.31 up with 2 dots. Change back to Comcast with my Airport router and it's 231 down and 12 up and I'm not right next to the base station. Cellular is great when you don't have access to WiFi but all those figures about how fast cellular is or will be only count when you're near a cell tower, which doesn't happen except along I-5 in the Pacific Northwest. Of course, Comcast will say use their xfinity WiFi back channel on Comcast installations but this is slower than cellular.
They do. See https://www.apple.com/iphone-7/specs/
"Models A1778 and A1784 do not support CDMA networks, such as those used by Verizon and Sprint."
I don't know if the Japan (and I think Korea version) of "CDMA" was ever supported by the iPhone. iPhone compatibility came along in Japan when they went to W-CDMA for "4G". The Japanese CDMA was a local variant that no one else but maybe Korea supported.
And technically, the 4G stuff is "CDMA" technology even if it is not a "CDMA" network in the iPhone specs. It uses CDMA type data signaling and GSM type control signaling and is called W-CDMA (is LTE related ??) so may fall under Qualcomm patents.
Agree, but the current administration is working to strip the FCC from any monitoring or oversight of networks. So don't count on the issue being resolved anytime soon.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but encrypted (via HTTPS or VPN) traffic over public wifi is safe from run-of-the-mill cyber threats. So you weren't really entering your iCloud password "in the clear."
I never looked to the FCC to improve the quality of service or bandwidth or speed of mobile networks. That's what market competition is for, right?
1b) You can connect an iOS-based device to Ethernet using their Lightning-to-USB adapter and then their USB-to-Ethernet adapter.
2) Get a VPN. Not just for your Mac, but also for your iPhone on those occasions—no matter how rare—that you'll be connecting to an open or closed WiFI that you don't control, like at a business.
Well I think the FCC is supposed to ensure that market competition indeed focuses on that instead of a race to the bottom to see who screws over their customers least. (selling customer data and other weird practices)
Maybe it also has to do with the antenna design but I rather suspect the Intel modem.
SHA256 is a hashing algorithm. It's not used to encrypt because hashes can't be reversed (in theory).
FWIW the only part of the SSL/TLS tunnel that uses PKI is the handshake in order to share a symmetric key between the parties. The symmetric key is then used for encryption for the session. PKI is too compute intensive to encrypt transactional traffic. I would assume that if you snooped the entire session you'd eventually be able to brute force the symmetric session key and derive your password in the network packets. Although I do understand that encryption like AES means you'd need an enormous amount of data and time to work out the session key. For all intents and purposes, it's basically impervious.