The iPhone 7 Intel Modem Controversy Explained!

By SemiWiki

June 27, 2016

The media is really having a field day on this one so I think it deserves further discussion. The rumor is that Intel has won the modem socket in the iPhone 7. The same rumor was circulating about Intel winning the modem socket for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5e so it really has reached urban legend status. The question I have is why does anybody really care? The modem in question was not designed by Intel, it is not manufactured by Intel, and it does not guarantee Intel another iPhone modem socket, so seriously, what is the big deal here?

First a little background: QCOM has supplied iPhone modems for the past few years. My iPhone 5, 5s and 6 has a 28nm QCOM modem. The iPhone 6s has a 20nm QCOM modem and right now QCOM is shipping a 14nm modem which is inside the latest and greatest Samsung smartphone (S7). I’m not going to get into the modem speeds and feeds debate because it is mostly “benchmarking magic.” Seriously, even Harry Potter would be impressed by some of those benchmark claims and we are all carrier speed (Verizon/AT&T) limited anyway so it doesn’t really matter.

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