By Prakash Sangam, EETimes
August 6, 2019
After buying Intel's modem business, Apple has a steep hill to climb to build a premium 5G modem. And it might yet have to buy an RF IC company.
Everybody is looking toward the Apple event on September 10th, expecting new iPhones. Those phones will certainly not support 5G. While 5G rollouts are ramping up, I wanted to take stock of the situation in their preparedness for 5G phones and specifically how they are placed from the modem perspective.
Since Apple announced the deal to buy Intel’s failed modem business there has been much analysis of the reasons and the merits of the deal. My opinions were quoted in CNBC and NBC. The real question now is, “Can Apple turn around the lagging Intel modem technology, and develop a competitive modem?”