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Your 2018 iPhone may be Slower than Android Phones

posted by Fnord666 on Monday July 30 2018, @01:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the single-point-of-failure dept.

"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Apple has been using Intel 4G chips for some models of the iPhone and Qualcomm chips for others.

Apple appears to be making some big changes to the chips in its upcoming iPhones -- and that could mean your next iPhone downloads data slower than rival Android devices. Qualcomm, a major supplier of 4G chips for smartphones, on Wednesday said it doesn't expect to supply modems for any upcoming iPhones.

"We believe Apple intends to solely use our competitor's modems rather than our modems in its next iPhone release," Qualcomm financial chief George Davis said during an earnings call with analysts.

Cristiano Amon, the head of Qualcomm's chip business, noted that it doesn't mean Qualcomm has lost Apple's business forever, but it's out for now.

"This is a very dynamic industry," he said during the earnings call. "If the opportunity presents itself, I think we will be a supplier of Apple."

Apple and Qualcomm have been fighting over patents since the beginning of 2017. Qualcomm previously supplied all modems for iPhones, but Apple now uses 4G chips from Intel in about half of its phones -- particularly those running on AT&T and T-Mobile networks. The move gave Apple more leverage in its battle with Qualcomm, but it has been criticized for hurting consumers by limiting their network speeds.

Qualcomm didn't say which company will supply modems for the next iPhone, but it's believed to be Intel.

Apple's apparent move to source its chips from one supplier could have big implications for your next iPhone. Going back to one chip provider could make it tougher for Apple to keep up with demand for its upcoming iPhones, which means you may have to wait even longer to get your hands on a new device. And speed tests have shown Qualcomm-powered smartphones are capable of faster network speeds than the devices running on Intel processors.

-- submitted from IRC

Previously: Apple Could Switch From Qualcomm to Intel and MediaTek for Modems

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Monday July 30 2018, @01:54PM (3 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 30 2018, @01:54PM (#714717)

    Fact: Apple isn't using Qualcomm chips in their new phones.
    Spin: The new iPhones will be slower than Androids.

    I'm a QC fanboy as anyone who follows me knows, but this is a bit over the top.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday July 30 2018, @02:08PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday July 30 2018, @02:08PM (#714720) Journal

    Not just headline but entire story.

    TFA also includes this line, "Qualcomm has accused Apple of purposely slowing down the speeds of Qualcomm-powered iPhones to match the speeds of Intel-powered devices." And it goes on to say that Qualcomm modems in Androids are faster than Qualcomm modems in iPhones in testing.

    So we have a whole article from Qualcomm's perspective, with Apple and Intel not commenting for the story.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Monday July 30 2018, @02:12PM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Monday July 30 2018, @02:12PM (#714723) Journal

    These concerns have come up in the past. This headline is not coming from nowhere.

    iPhone 7 models with Intel inside suffer from slower LTE speeds [cultofmac.com]

    A new study found performance differences between the Intel and Qualcomm modems used in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus that can result in a serious dip in data speeds when owners encounter a weak signal.

    The iPhone 7 marks the first time Apple sourced modems from two different suppliers. The folks at CellularInsights decided to run both modems through a series of tests and discovered “unexplainable sharp dips in performance” of throughput on the Intel modem.

    Is Apple deliberately slowing down cellular data on some iPhone 8 models? [bgr.com]

    When Apple has used different components in different models in the past, it’s artifically limited the capabilities of one chip in order to give a consistent experience across devices. In other words, Intel’s modem might not be capable of supporting gigabit LTE, so Apple software-limited the Qualcomm modem to put both on the same playing field.

    [...] But based on the information we have right now, it looks like Apple is disabling some advanced LTE features on Qualcomm-powered iPhones in order to level the playing field.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 30 2018, @02:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 30 2018, @02:22PM (#714728)

    this first broke in theregister.co.uk last week which had the android phones 1/5th... if not 1/4 faster than apple's.