Apple will use baseband from CDMA giant for iPhone 5 and iPad 2 - report

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
A report out of the Far East early Thursday claims that Apple has decided on its lineup of component suppliers for the fifth-generation iPhone and second-generation iPad -- both of which will reportedly obtain baseband chips from CDMA inventor Qualcomm.



Rumors that Apple would dump Infineon chipsets in future versions of the iPhone began nearly a year ago when it was reported that Apple and Qualcomm met to discuss "future cooperation." Those sentiments were echoed once again, this time just three weeks ago when the Commercial Times pointed at Qualcomm-based iPhone 5.



Known largely as the inventor of CDMA -- the cellular standard behind the wireless networks of Verizon and Sprint -- Qualcomm has said it plans to produce dual-carrier chips that would enable future phones to work on both CDMA/EVDO carriers like Verizon and Sprint, as well as rival 3GPP carriers that use UMTS/HSPA+ technology like AT&T and T-Mobile.



Though the latest report Thursday by Taipei's Economic Daily News does not insinuate that the alleged Qualcomm design win will lead to a CDMA (Verizon or Sprint) iPhone, there have been other anecdotal pieces of evidence to that end, like AppleInsider's discovery of a cryptic "iPhone developer guru" job posting on the Qualcomm website in August.



Meanwhile, that same report also claims knowledge of over a half-dozen other iPhone 5 and iPad 2 component suppliers -- many of which have remained the same. They include: CPU from Samsung, Wi-Fi chip from Marvell, Flash memory from Intel, touch screen controller by Broadcom, audio chip from Wolfson, video display interface chip from National Semiconductor/Infineon, Bluetooth from CSR and power management from TI.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 48
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    I hope they don't charge more for this useless feature.
  • Reply 2 of 48
    to me it shows, Apple is in the driver's seat! And that's good for all of us!



    AOL, Yahoo, Google, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP, MS, Palm, Nokia, Verizon and Sony had their chance and they chose to sell 'cheap' plastic, creaky, crap with crappy OS's.



    Thanks, Apple and thanks to Stevo for making the nerdy engineer produce something usable and worthwhile...



    This will be his greatest accomplishment. He is the ultimate liaison bwtn, albeit, gifted programmers/engineers and the end users!



    Best
  • Reply 3 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


    I hope they don't charge more for this useless feature.



    A cynic, but funny and apropos!
  • Reply 4 of 48
    Hopefully this dispels the iPhone-Verizon rumors for January 2011. The timing of the Qualcomm hire and just the re-engineering required to make the chip fit and work points to a late Spring/Summer unveiling in either the iPhone or iPad.



    I AM curious though about that "video processor" from National Semi/Infineon. I thought video was handled by the PowerVR core integrated into the A4 SoC. So what is this video processor they are referring to???
  • Reply 5 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


    I hope they don't charge more for this useless feature.



    You call a feature that allows a single phone to work on any carrier in the world useless?



    Get real! It's the Universal Phone!



    And, It would not surprise me if it reduced the cost of an iPhone or iPad -- 1 SKU, Parts Inventory, production facility for all carrier solutions.



    .
  • Reply 6 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KingKuei View Post


    I AM curious though about that "video processor" from National Semi/Infineon. I thought video was handled by the PowerVR core integrated into the A4 SoC. So what is this video processor they are referring to???



    I went back and re-checked the translation. This should be more accurate:



    video display interface chip



    Not sure if that helps.
  • Reply 7 of 48
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by christopher126 View Post


    AOL, Yahoo, Google, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP, MS, Palm, Nokia, Verizon and Sony had their chance and they chose to sell 'cheap' plastic, creaky, crap with crappy OS's.



    Thanks, Apple and thanks to Stevo for making the nerdy engineer produce something usable and worthwhile...




    So, what you are saying is, people that can't afford US$700 for a phone, don't deserve to own one?
  • Reply 8 of 48
    Qualcomm has to produce dual capable chip sets or they will become obsolete. Without 3GPP carriers that use UMTS/HSPA+ technology like AT&T and T-Mobile Qualcomm will slowly disappear and force Sprint and even Verizon to switch over to UMTS/HSPA+ as their solution.
  • Reply 9 of 48
    samabsamab Posts: 1,953member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    Qualcomm has to produce dual capable chip sets or they will become obsolete. Without 3GPP carriers that use UMTS/HSPA+ technology like AT&T and T-Mobile Qualcomm will slowly disappear and force Sprint and even Verizon to switch over to UMTS/HSPA+ as their solution.



    Total BS.



    Qualcomm makes HSPA chips because they can make a lot of money. All the OTHER companies got obsolete as Qualcomm became the largest mobile technology company in the world.



    The funny thing is that most of the GSM androids got Qualcomm chipsets and most of the Verizon androids got non-Qualcomm chipsets.
  • Reply 10 of 48
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    Yes, I have no desire to ever visit the US and paying to have this useless functionality is not something I am interested in.



    Maybe a "world edition", such as Verizon uses for some of their phones, in order to give buyers a choice, would be a good option.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


    You call a feature that allows a single phone to work on any carrier in the world useless?



    Get real! It's the Universal Phone!



    And, It would not surprise me if it reduced the cost of an iPhone or iPad -- 1 SKU, Parts Inventory, production facility for all carrier solutions.



    .



  • Reply 11 of 48
    Dual carrier chip sets make sense and probably are the way to go as far as cutting production costs. Meanwhile, nine months to go and suppliers to come and go as features in the IPHONE5 are deleted & added.
  • Reply 12 of 48
    I wouldn't be surprised if iPad 2.0 gets a CDMA option in January. Verizon's CEO is going to deliver a keynote speech at CES in January, and this would be a big enough deal for him to talk about. Bigger than whatever Android tablets they might have by then.



    A CDMA iPad announcement in January would be a relatively safe and sane way to introduce Verizon into the mix. No contract, only a minimal amount of lock-in. And it would help build hype for a CDMA iPhone, if it were to be released next summer.



    It just seems wrong for Apple to waste time and effort to build an iPhone that uses an increasingly obsolescent technology. On the other hand, Apple could make huge short-term profits, adding new customers (and eyeballs on iAds) in the time that CDMA still has left. But can Apple work their way into the "safe haven for Android" that Verizon has become?
  • Reply 13 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


    Yes, I have no desire to ever visit the US and paying to have this useless functionality is not something I am interested in. ...



    China Telecom's 75 million subscribers use a variant of CDMA. And I hear it's used in Korea and other Asian nations too. And I'm sure they're less blatantly lock-in oriented than Verizon.
  • Reply 14 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SockRolid View Post


    China Telecom's 75 million subscribers use a variant of CDMA. And I hear it's used in Korea and other Asian nations too. And I'm sure they're less blatantly lock-in oriented than Verizon.



    Those countries also have GSM/UMTS networks, so adding CDMAone support wouldn't gain you any roaming advantage.
  • Reply 15 of 48
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    Well, hello, 4G iPhone and iPad!



    [4G is CDMA, whether you're on Verizon or AT&T.]
  • Reply 16 of 48
    I hope Intel has been kept in the loop on this, I wouldn't want there to be bad tension between these two giants
  • Reply 17 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post


    Well, hello, 4G iPhone and iPad!



    [4G is CDMA, whether you're on Verizon or AT&T.]



    4G is not CDMA. You are purposely confusing things.
  • Reply 18 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


    You call a feature that allows a single phone to work on any carrier in the world useless?



    Get real! It's the Universal Phone!



    And, It would not surprise me if it reduced the cost of an iPhone or iPad -- 1 SKU, Parts Inventory, production facility for all carrier solutions.



    .



    It technically is already a universal phone, GSM is used on 80% of networks worldwide (99.99% in Europe) and its also faster , if a Verizon phone came over here to the UK, it would not work, theres no CDMA networks over here.



    One of the disadvantages of using Verizon, you can't roam.
  • Reply 19 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post


    Well, hello, 4G iPhone and iPad!



    [4G is CDMA, whether you're on Verizon or AT&T.]



    4G is not CDMA.
  • Reply 20 of 48
    So the next generation iphone will still be GSM only?
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