Apple iPhone 12 models use Qualcomm's 5G X55 modem

Apple's new 5G-equipped iPhone 12 models appear to sport Qualcomm's Snapdragon X55 modem, according to early teardowns of the devices.

Although the iPhone 12 doesn't officially start arriving on customer doorsteps until Oct. 23, teardown videos and internal photos of the new models have surface on Chinese social media.

One particular clip posted to Weibo appears to show an L-shaped iPhone logic board equipped with the Qualcomm 5G modem. Although the video doesn't show the iPhone being torn down, the logic boards appear identical to those seen in other confirmed teardowns.

iPhone 12 pic.twitter.com/4lXm6cs7G3
— (@L0vetodream) October 21, 2020

That lines up with predictions that Apple would use the second-generation Qualcomm 5G chip in its 2020 iPhone devices. Although Qualcomm has a newer X60 chip available, that product debuted too late to be included in Apple's iPhone 12 lineup.

All four iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro models support both sub-6GHz 5G and mmWave in the U.S., with models in other countries supporting only low-band 5G connectivity.

Apple settled a long-running legal dispute with Qualcomm to gain access to its 5G chip technology in 2019. Although Apple opted for Intel chips in the iPhone 11 lineup, it became clear that Intel wasn't going to be able to deliver 5G chips.

Next year's "iPhone 13" models are likely to come equipped with the X60 modems, however. That'll bring significant improvements to battery performance, chip size, and connectivity.

Apple, for its part, has already signaled that it plans to use upcoming Qualcomm chips in future iPhones until at least 2024. That's according to text within the Apple and Qualcomm settlement filing that specifically mentions the as-of-yet unannounced X65 and X70 modems.

28 Comments

Anilu_777 8 Years · 579 comments

About 4 years ago

Other countries don’t have mid-band? If you look at Canada vs the US all the 5G bands are exactly the same except for the addition of two GHz bands in the US model. So I think you’re wrong there.

wood1208 10 Years · 2938 comments

Qualcomm planned carefully to release X60 right after Apple's iPhone 12 design schedule was locked in and changing that could delay iPhone 12 release into 2021. Well played Qualcomm!!

bulk001 16 Years · 795 comments

iPhone 13 seems to be the one to get unless you absolutely can’t wait another year. Really not much to upgrade to in 12 and with a case, one can’t even show off that don’t have an old and obsolete 11! 😅

bestkeptsecret 13 Years · 4289 comments

bulk001 said:

iPhone 13 seems to be the one to get unless you absolutely can’t wait another year. Really not much to upgrade to in 12 and with a case, one can’t even show off that don’t have an old and obsolete 11! 😅

The camera upgrade makes it very desirable to me and I'll be upgrading from an iPhone 11 Pro Max. There are a lot of clear cases available to show off the iPhone.
Just because you can't see any reason to upgrade, doesn't mean no one else can.

avon b7 20 Years · 8046 comments

wood1208 said:

Qualcomm planned carefully to release X60 right after Apple's iPhone 12 design schedule was locked in and changing that could delay iPhone 12 release into 2021. Well played Qualcomm!!

This isn't correct. The X60 roll out was planned long before Apple even signed on with them.

Qualcomm stated that the X60 would be available 'at the very earliest' by the end of this year. That has never changed.

There was an extremely slim chance that Apple would get some kind of prererential access to it as part of the 'kiss and make up' deal, which itself was part of a race against the clock effort to get any kind of 5G modem into an iPhone this year because Intel failed at delivering the goods.

It is supremely unfortunate, but not unexpected, that Apple may have ended up with last year's hardware on this year's phone's. Especially as the X60 will be shipping on competing phones within weeks.

But from Apple's perspective, having 5G now is a win.

And it's is perhaps ironic that this news appears on the very same day that Huawei is likely to launch the world's first 5nm on-SoC 5G modem.