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posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 11 2019, @10:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the built-from-scratch dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Apple's internal hardware team is working on modems now, likely to replace Intel

Apple will design its own modems in-house, according to sources that spoke with Reuters. In doing so, the company may hope to leave behind Intel modems in its mobile devices, which Apple has used since a recent falling out with Qualcomm.

Qualcomm forces Apple to stop selling iPhone 7 and 8 in Germany According to the sources, the team working on modem design now reports to Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies. Srouji joined Apple back in 2004 and led development of Apple's first in-house system-on-a-chip, the A4. He has overseen Apple silicon ever since, including the recent A12 and A12X in the new iPhone and iPad Pro models.

Before this move, Apple's modem work ultimately fell under Dan Riccio, who ran engineering for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. As Reuters noted, that division was heavily focused on managing the supply chain and working with externally made components. The fact that the team is moving into the group focused on developing in-house components is a strong signal that Apple will not be looking outside its own walls for modems in the future.

In recent years, Apple has been locked in a costly and complex series of legal battles with Qualcomm, the industry's foremost maker of mobile wireless chips. While Apple previously used Qualcomm's chips in its phones, the legal struggles led the tech giant to turn instead to Intel in recent iPhones.

Late last year, Apple announced that it would greatly expand hiring in San Diego, where Qualcomm is based. All of the areas where Apple announced plans to build out new campuses or launch major hiring initiatives appeared to be chosen because of their large pools of high-skilled workers in certain fields that Apple could potentially poach from competitors like Qualcomm.


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  • (Score: 2) by danaris on Monday February 11 2019, @01:55PM (1 child)

    by danaris (3853) on Monday February 11 2019, @01:55PM (#799500)

    Are you suggesting that Apple build some sort of iPhone-to-iPhone mesh network that completely bypasses the cellular networks? I can see there being certain useful applications of that (at least in big cities where at any given time, you've got at least a decent possibility of being within range of another iPhone), but there's no way that can replace cellular internet access.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by ledow on Monday February 11 2019, @03:40PM

    by ledow (5567) on Monday February 11 2019, @03:40PM (#799537) Homepage

    Nor would they be able to without using cellular frequencies which would need a licence to prove it can interoperate with those exact companies you want to bypass. Modems transmit as well as receive, remember.

    If they used different frequencies, then they might as well use 802.11.

    They'll quickly find that they have to abide by certifications and specifications and all they'll benefit is a modem chip that others don't have a driver for. I don't think anyone is even seriously *trying* to run homebrew on an Apple device. They won't magically screw 100% more bandwidth from it, nor beat cellular-modem manufacturers at their core business for things like power usage, etc.

    All this will mean is that Apple will save a few pence of profit on each modem chip that would otherwise go to middlemen, for MASSIVE upheaval, and end up with the burden of maintaining those drivers / devices / hardware production methods themselves for decades to come. Just certifying the chip in Europe, Asia, the US, etc. is probably a several-year-long process.

    Anything that utilises the cellular network will need co-operation from the cellular companies, when they in-fight each other over technologies, let alone some upstart device manufacturer trying to dictate a protocol that doesn't work elsewhere or on other devices.

    Apple's modem is going to cause them more problems than it will ever solve - from patents and licensing, to not being able to shift the blame and extended support for old devices when they run into problems.

    Apple just want to control everything themselves. If they want to sell those devices, they are going to find out why it's a very expensive exercise to do so.