Apple Rumored To Develop Baseband iPhone Chips In-House
by Joe White
April 8, 2014
If a new report has it right, Apple is planning on forming a research and development (R&D) team to develop iPhone baseband chips in-house. The news, which reached us from DigiTimes, notes that such Apple-designed chips would first launch in iPhones at some point in 2015.
The report explains:
Apple reportedly plans to form a R&D team to develop baseband processors for use in iPhones to be released in 2015 and will place the baseband chip orders with Samsung Electronics and Globalfoundries, according to industry sources. Although some sources also indicated that Apple may develop SoC chips that will integrate application processors and baseband chips, it is more likely that Apple will continue to use discrete baseband chips, said the sources.As a reminder, the baseband chips used in Apple's current-generation iPhones are purchased from Qualcomm and mass-produced at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), an Apple partner. Already, the Cupertino, Calif. company designs its own mobile A-series processors in-house. The most recent of these, Apple's 64-bit “desktop class” A7 processor, launched in the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and iPad mini with Retina display last year. Apple has long been concerned with maintaining a degree of control over core elements in its iOS devices. This has been made particularly apparent recently with its sapphire-production partnership with GT Advanced Technologies: sapphire is not only required for Touch ID, but Apple is also rumored to be introducing a sapphire display iPhone handset later this year. We'll keep you updated with further information as we receive it. In the meantime, see: AppAdvice App Of The Week For April 7, 2014, AppAdvice Daily: Scan, Snap And Create Events With The Best New Apps Of The Week, and Apple’s Newest ‘Your Verse’ Story Shows How The iPad Helps A Bollywood Choreographer.
