Apple and Intel Logos (Photo : Twitter)
Apple's next iPhones could reportedly include versions with an Intel modem chip instead of a Qualcomm processor. Verizon models in the United States and China's iPhones would still have Qualcomm chips. However, AT&T iPhone 7 units in the US would have Intel inside.
The news was reported by Bloomberg News. If Apple uses Intel wireless chips in iPhone 7 units it would be the first-ever major flagship phones to contain them.
Apple manufacturers the processors for its mobile devices. However, it uses chips from companies such as Qualcomm to link the smartphones and tablets to wireless carriers such as T-Mobile and Sprint.
Handset makers often use components from different companies. Therefore, if one chipmaker has problems it will not affect all Apple devices.
For example, Samsung uses Qualcomm chips for many of its Galaxy smartphones, but also sells other units with in-house processors.
However, one possible result of this method is having different levels of performance. It is also unclear how different wireless chipmakers would affect global Apple smartphones, or unlocked iPhones that work on any carrier, according to CNET.
Rumors that Apple would include Intel chips in iPhones have existed for a long time. In April Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf announced that one of its major clients would look for a second supplier of phone chips. Industry experts believed it was Apple.
The original iPhone included chips from Infineon, which Intel purchased in 2010. Since then Qualcomm has become Apple's only supplier of wireless chips. Meanwhile, Intel has struggled in the mobile market, and in April the Silicon Valley company cancelled the release of mobile chipsets that function as the gadgets' brains.
Intel was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It was renamed Integrated Electronics but the founders had to buy the rights to the name since "Intel" was already trademarked by the hotel chain Intelco.
In related news, it is still unclear if iPhone 7 Pro will be launched with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus this fall. However, the next-generation iPhones will reportedly replace the top-selling Space Gray color option with Deep Blue. Such a change could rile some iPhone fans, according to GSMArena.
Here's a review of Intel's "Skylake" chip:
