iPhone 6S to double LTE speeds, run more efficiently with new Qualcomm chip
One of the main upgrades to the next iPhone's internals will be a redesigned wireless system featuring a new Qualcomm-made LTE chip, as revealed by images of a prototype iPhone 6S logic board shared by a source.
Context & Ripple Effects
The iPhone 6S modem leak lands days after prototype-board images showed an updated NFC setup, a 16GB base tier, and fewer chips overall — together painting the 6S as an internal-refresh year rather than a redesign. The wireless system is the marquee change: a new Qualcomm LTE part that doubles peak speeds while drawing less power.
The socket matters beyond spec sheets. This 2015 design has Qualcomm as the lone baseband supplier, but the corpus shows that monopoly eroding — KGI later forecast 2018 iPhones splitting pre-5G modems between Intel and Qualcomm, and by late 2019 Apple was reported returning to Qualcomm's X55 for all three 5G models after a stretch in which Qualcomm itself flagged accelerating revenue decline from Apple.
First-order effects
- iPhone 6S buyers get roughly double the LTE throughput of the iPhone 6 on carriers supporting the faster categories, plus better battery efficiency from the redesigned wireless system.
- Qualcomm keeps the flagship iPhone socket outright in this generation, protecting its highest-visibility LTE design win even as its broader Apple-related revenue was already under pressure.
Second-order effects
- A doubled-speed radio gives carriers a marketing hook for their LTE networks, pushing rivals like Samsung and LG to match or exceed the same modem categories in their fall flagships.
- Apple gains proof it can extract generational leaps from its supplier, strengthening its hand when it later splits the business — the KGI forecast of Intel taking the majority of 2018 baseband orders shows exactly that lever being pulled two years on.
Third-order effects
- The pattern across the corpus — sole source in 2015, dual-sourced pre-5G parts by 2018, then a full return to Qualcomm for 5G per the X55 report — points to basebands becoming competitively bid components whose supplier share resets at each radio-generation transition.
- With handset margins from Apple volatile, Qualcomm's reported push into automotive — the 10-year BMW cockpit and driver-assistance supply agreement — reads as the structural hedge against dependence on any single phone customer.
The trend: Smartphone modems are shifting from sole-sourced, speed-led differentiators to multi-sourced commodities renegotiated at every cellular generation, forcing suppliers like Qualcomm to diversify beyond handsets.