AppleInsider StaffRumors that Apple would dump Infineon chipsets in future versions of the iPhone began nearly a year ago when it was reported that Apple and Qualcomm met to discuss "future cooperation." Those sentiments were echoed once again, this time just three weeks ago when the Commercial Times pointed at Qualcomm-based iPhone 5.
Known largely as the inventor of CDMA — the cellular standard behind the wireless networks of Verizon and Sprint — Qualcomm has said it plans to produce dual-carrier chips that would enable future phones to work on both CDMA/EVDO carriers like Verizon and Sprint, as well as rival 3GPP carriers that use UMTS/HSPA+ technology like AT&T and T-Mobile.
Though the latest report Thursday by Taipei's Economic Daily News does not insinuate that the alleged Qualcomm design win will lead to a CDMA (Verizon or Sprint) iPhone, there have been other anecdotal pieces of evidence to that end, like AppleInsider's discovery of a cryptic "iPhone developer guru" job posting on the Qualcomm website in August.
Meanwhile, that same report also claims knowledge of over a half-dozen other iPhone 5 and iPad 2 component suppliers — many of which have remained the same. They include: CPU from Samsung, Wi-Fi chip from Marvell, Flash memory from Intel, touch screen controller by Broadcom, audio chip from Wolfson, video display interface chip from National Semiconductor/Infineon, Bluetooth from CSR and power management from TI.
Chip Loder
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Marko Zivkovic
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
48 Comments
I hope they don't charge more for this useless feature.
to me it shows, Apple is in the driver's seat! And that's good for all of us!
AOL, Yahoo, Google, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP, MS, Palm, Nokia, Verizon and Sony had their chance and they chose to sell 'cheap' plastic, creaky, crap with crappy OS's.
Thanks, Apple and thanks to Stevo for making the nerdy engineer produce something usable and worthwhile...
This will be his greatest accomplishment. He is the ultimate liaison bwtn, albeit, gifted programmers/engineers and the end users!
Best
I hope they don't charge more for this useless feature.
A cynic, but funny and apropos!
Hopefully this dispels the iPhone-Verizon rumors for January 2011. The timing of the Qualcomm hire and just the re-engineering required to make the chip fit and work points to a late Spring/Summer unveiling in either the iPhone or iPad.
I AM curious though about that "video processor" from National Semi/Infineon. I thought video was handled by the PowerVR core integrated into the A4 SoC. So what is this video processor they are referring to???
I hope they don't charge more for this useless feature.
You call a feature that allows a single phone to work on any carrier in the world useless?
Get real! It's the Universal Phone!
And, It would not surprise me if it reduced the cost of an iPhone or iPad -- 1 SKU, Parts Inventory, production facility for all carrier solutions.
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