MWC 2022: The Intel 7560 Modem for iPhones May Come in 2022

BARCELONA—When I'grand wrong, I try to admit it. Final week nosotros reported on an Intel press release for a new modem which might, in theory, boot Qualcomm'southward role out of iPhones. The XMM7560, the press release said, would move into production this year.

MWC Bug Art Simply today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Intel reps at the modem section of the company booth said that while the 7560 is a dandy part, it won't appear in retail products until 2022. So it probably won't be eligible for this year's iPhone. If Intel'southward going to make a play for all of that Apple business, they'll have to wait another yr.

The primal is that the 7560 is Intel'south first modem with CDMA, the radio needed to support Verizon'southward and Sprint's networks. The model coming this year, the XMM7480, does not support CDMA, so information technology can't exist placed in Verizon or Dart devices for the fourth dimension being. It will speed Intel-powered iPhones up, though, as it supports 4x carrier assemblage and 256QAM, features which weren't on the Intel modem in this year's round of iPhone seven units. Intel reps said the 7480 is notwithstanding on schedule to appear in devices this yr.

Intel'south modems don't perform too equally Qualcomm's, according to testing from Cellular Insights. Only Apple is outraged over Qualcomm'southward licensing fees, which are charged to manufacturers and set based on the retail toll of the telephone, and the phone maker is suing the fleck maker for U.s.$one billion. So this year, Apple switched its AT&T, T-Mobile, and European iPhone models over to Intel.

That bifurcation is likely to continue for another year, then, with some iPhones running Qualcomm fries and some running Intel fries. Apple also probably won't use Qualcomm'south latest gigabit LTE modems, to prevent the Qualcomm phones from outstripping the Intel ones too far on performance. (Qualcomm's current modem, the X16, is comparable to the Intel 7560.)

Neither Qualcomm nor Intel talk publicly virtually their Apple business, of grade.