Intel Makes Its ‘First 5G Phone Call’ – Apple Might Use Intel Chips For Future 5G iPhones

Intel has stepped up its 5G game. Which is the wise thing to do if they want to stay in competition with other competitors like Qualcomm which demoed their 5G modem last month.

The next-gen of wireless communication is pegged to benefit users with multi-gigabit speed without any cables. In fact, it might remove internet cables from our lives at maximum places.

According to Venture Beat, Intel has already made their first successful 5G phone call on 28 GHz band with existing prototypes of the 5G modems. The company said they are running trails in different parts of the world.

Intel has recently announced commercial 5G modems as part of their new XMM 8000 series. Intel XMM 8060 will be the first 5G modem in the series by the silicon-giant.

Intel’s 5G chips would arrive in the market in the year 2019 and they might be able to showcase their potential with the rollout of 5G networks by 2020. But, Intel hasn’t lifted their focus from the LTE networks yet, as the 5G networks might take some time to mature.

In that situation, existing 3G, 4G networks will have to fill the gap. Thus, Intel XMM 7660, a new modem for current-generation wireless communication which supports speeds up to 1.6Gbps, is also unveiled alongside the 5G modem series. It will land on commercial devices in 2019.

These modems will allow our smartphones, computers, set-top boxes, etc., to connect to the blazing fast wireless networks. According to VP of Intel’s 5G wing, Alex Quach, an advantage of having 5G in the picture is that the network carriers can optimize the same network for different category of devices including Internet of Things, phone service, enterprise service, and more.

Apple is also in the line

It is known that Apple Inc. has approached Intel to put their 5G modems in Apple devices in the future. Well, that needs to be correct considering how the Galaxy Note 8 burned iPhone X in recent LTE speed tests.

A report from Fast Company, citing sources with knowledge, says that Apple engineers are already working with Intel to develop 5G modems for future iPhone models. The goal is a co-designed SoC which would include 5G modem along other components such as the CPU, GPU, etc.

In fact, Intel has reportedly deployed an arm of “multiple thousands” of people working on 5G. The company is lagging behind Qualcomm and this could be what it takes to win the contract with Apple.

Rumors suggest that one of the reasons Apple might have considered Intel-inside iPhones could be the legal battle with Qualcomm and Apple’s plans to wipe out Snapdragon-maker’s technology from iPhone and iPads.

Qualcomm, on the other hand, provides specialized features to carriers with its 5G modems. But most of those features may not be used. So, for Apple, the Intel-powered alternatives could be feasible, says Fast Company.