Apple may be planning on turning to Qualcomm for the next generation iPhone’s baseband chips instead continuing to rely on Infineon. This rumor comes courtesy of China Times, and if true, could be an indicator that Apple really is working on building a CDMA-compatible iPhone model.
Assuming this rumor pans out, Intel will most likely be disappointed since it recently purchased Infineon’s wireless division for about US$1.4 billion. Even if Intel loses out on supplying baseband chips to Apple, however, the company still has plans for its Infineon purchase.
“The acquired technology will be used in Intel Core processor-based laptops, and myriad of Intel Atom processor-based devices, including smartphones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers,” Intel executives said in a statement.
Moving to Qualcomm chips could potentially give Apple more flexibility with who it choses to partner with for iPhone sales since it builds chips that support GSM and CDMA, where the Infineon chips Apple uses now only support GSM. A switch to Qualcomm’s chips could also set up opportunities for Apple to add Sprint or Verizon as extra carriers in the U.S.
Since no one at Apple is confirming a deal with Qualcomm is in the works, this should be treated as little more than another rumor.
[Thanks to Unwired View for the heads up.]