All the rumours claim that Intel is trying to get Apple to use its XMM 7360 modem, which can provide a few more features than that offered by Qualcomm.
But that does not support the CDMA EV-DO standard which means that Apple would have to create a new phone to suit nearly every carrier.
Jobs’ Mob did release two iPhone 6 versions to help support carriers which use the LTE band 30 and those who don’t, but it sensibly does not want to get into making specific phones for different regions.
Apple could do this. In fact it would fit with its company profile to limit users’ options as far as possible. You could control were a phone was sold and make it much harder to create worldwide jailbreaking software by locking it in to a particular carrier.
But this would mean a specialised manufacturing process and distribution service. It would raise the cost of making and selling the phone considerably.
It is far better for Apple to make phones carrier agnostic and to do that it really needs a modem which can handle CDMA EV-DO.
Intel’s modem chip is also slower. It can manage 450 megabits-per-second maximum theoretical download speeds and 100 megabits-per-second maximum theoretical upload. It uses a 28-nanometer process.
Apple so far uses Qualcomm's MDM9x35 baseband chip which is made on 20-nanometer manufacturing technology and can manage 300 megabits per second maximum download speeds and 50 megabits per second upload speeds.
Qualcomm’s next chip is the MDM9x45 which chip supports 600 megabits-per-second maximum theoretical download speed and 150 megabits-per-second maximum theoretical upload speed.
The XMM 7360 is better than the MDM9x35 in terms of features, but the MDM9x45 cleans its clock.
However this is why we used the term “army of minions” which we think is what Intel is using to get the XMM 7360 ready for Apple. We can’t prove it but we suspect that Chipzilla has gone to Apple and said it will adapt its chip to match Qualcomms’
Intel wrote a cheque for the CDMA modem assets of VIA Telecom and it can migrate its modems to 14nm. It will arrive too late for the iPhone 7 and will not be seen until 2017.
But if Intel allocated resources to the project, say an army of 1000 minions and made it a priority with lots of cash, it could push the time table forward. Apple would be the first customer for the new Intel modem which would have more features and be better than Qualcomms’.
It would take a fair bit of doing, but then it is the sort of thing that Chipzilla needs to do to get it into the mobile world and however much was spent it would be cheaper than the billions it wrote off paying manufacturers to put its CPU in their tablets.
Apple would encourage it. After all if Chipzilla pulls it off, Apple would have more features and leverage for future negotiating with Qualcomm. There are few advantages for Apple in having one supplier anyway.
