Yesterday, Apple announced that it agreed to acquire the majority of Intel's smartphone modem business. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year after regulatory approvals. Do you know what needs our approval?:
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The acquisition may enable Apple to accelerate the development of its own in-housed designed 5G modems. Reuters cites a source claiming that Apple wants to have in-house chips ready for use in some 2021 products, compared to previously timeframes pointing to between 2022 and 2025.
Since Apple has a multiyear chipset supply agreement with Qualcomm, Apple will likely not make the transition to in-house chips all at once, instead we may see lower-end devices transition to Apple designed 5G chips and higher-end devices will continue using Qualcomm chips.
Before returning to Qualcomm for 5G iPhones, Intel is expected to supply LTE modems for this years iPhones and 5G iPhones in 2020.
Since Apple has a multiyear chipset supply agreement with Qualcomm, Apple will likely not make the transition to in-house chips all at once, instead we may see lower-end devices transition to Apple designed 5G chips and higher-end devices will continue using Qualcomm chips.
Before returning to Qualcomm for 5G iPhones, Intel is expected to supply LTE modems for this years iPhones and 5G iPhones in 2020.