Apple tends to source from multiple suppliers for their components, and for the iPhone’s modem, it is no different as Intel and Qualcomm are the companies supplying Apple with the hardware. That is expected to be the same even in 2018, although KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Intel is expected to supply the majority of it.
The report from Kuo claims that 2018’s iPhones are expected to feature faster baseband chips from both Intel and Qualcomm. This is in line with an earlier report that said that Apple is working with Intel on 5G hardware for future iPhones, although Kuo’s report suggests that this could arrive as soon as 2018, and that Qualcomm is expected to continue supplying to Apple.
However Kuo’s report states that Intel will be the majority supplier, with as much as 70-80% of the components coming from Intel, while the rest is handled by Qualcomm. This isn’t surprising given that both companies have lawsuits filed against each other, although earlier reports suggested that Apple could skip Qualcomm’s components entirely.
That being said, Kuo’s report does not state what kind of speed improvements we’ll be looking at, although chances are that these will be pre-5G hardware, but the speed increases should be welcome all the same. It should also make up for the fact that Apple’s latest iPhones can’t hit gigabit speeds, but until it is official, it’s best taken with a grain of salt.