Apple allegedly prepping a next-generation iPhone prototype with 5G features

The modems for the new generation networks that will arrive on the next iPhone will perhaps bring the brand of the colossus of Santa Clara. A choice perhaps linked to bad relationships with Qualcomm iPhones with 5G connection may carry Intel's signature. According to rumors reported by Fast Company, the engineers at Cupertino are working with colleagues in Santa Clara to fine-tune the components that will bring the superfast cellular connection on Apple smartphones in 2019 or 2020.

Despite the historical relationship of collaboration between Apple and Intel, the choice is far from obvious. Qualcomm is in the competition for the 5G, thanks to the Snapdragon X50 modem presented in October 2016. The company already supplies most of the 3G and 4G components for Apple devices.

The move to 5G, however, offers smartphone makers a unique opportunity to loosen the grip of Qualcomm on the market. Whoever produces a smartphone that connects to the Internet, today pays a license - often very expensive - to take advantage of Qualcomm's patented technologies in the 1990s. An obligation from which Apple has tried to free itself recently with a lawsuit - still in progress - that has strongly tightened relations with the chip maker. And whose epilogue, at this point, seems to point to a renewed closeness with the other Californian colossus of microprocessors.

Intel, meanwhile, is investing huge resources to catch up on the competition and not repeat the wrong choices of the early 2000s that have led the company to underestimate the importance of the market for mobile processors. Santa Clara has dedicated a small army - at least a few thousand engineers - to the research and development of modems for 5G networks: the collaboration with Apple is a battle to be won at all costs.

According to industry sources, the engineers at Cupertino are working with Intel colleagues to be able to integrate 5G modems into a single SoC (System on a Chip) that the two companies could build together. This would be a new version of the Ax processors of Cupertino made with a substantial technical contribution from Intel, which could also be referred to the physical production of the component.