In recent weeks, there have been a lot of rumors that Huawei may become a potential modem supplier for Apple’s first generation 5G iPhone. At today’s conference, Huawei confirmed that it had no deal with Apple for supplying 5G modems.
Apple has an experience of working with a number of modem manufacturers for its iPhone handsets for LTE and 4G connectivity. And now only 6 companies can produce 5G modems: Qualcomm, Intel, Huawei, Samsung, UniSOC, and MediaTek. So the Cupertino-based company should select one (or more) suppliers for the 5G-enabled iPhone. As for now, the company has announced 1000+ Apple engineers are working on a custom 5G modem. But this should take longer.
In its turn, Huawei has announced that it is ready to sell its 5G modems but to Apple only. If this happens, it would be a win-win deal for both companies. Unfortunately, seems these two couldn’t reach an agreement.
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According to AnandTech, at today’s Huawei Analyst Summit, the manufacturer made a formal response to all kinds of speculation in this regard. When quizzed about the potential collaboration between Huawei and Apple and 5G modems for the next generation iPhone, the Huawei representative issued an official statement:
No change in terms of our chipset strategy. And no communication with Apple about 5G modems. But they believe that Apple is a great company and a pivotal company in the mobile industry.
This dismissal of Apple contact also poses the questions as to whether it will be Samsung or Intel. Seems nothing odd with this, but Apple is currently embroiled in a massive legal battle with Qualcomm, while Samsung is remaining the closest rival of it.
A rumor that they themselves started for sure…