Intel unveils XMM 7560 LTE modem with 1Gbps download speeds, 225 Mbps upload speeds, and CDMA support
The next iPhone could go gigabit. Today Intel announced its XMM7650 modem, which joins Qualcomm's X16 in the gigabit LTE world. Intel's modem is probably the front-runner for this fall's iPhone 7s or iPhone 8.
Context & Ripple Effects
Qualcomm set the pace last year with the Snapdragon X16, its first 1 Gbps LTE modem, and said phones carrying it would ship in 2017. Intel's XMM 7560 answers that spec point-for-point and adds what PC Magazine flags as the decisive feature for the US market: CDMA support.
The timing is pointed — the same day Intel unveiled the XMM 7560, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X20 promising 1.2 Gbps — and the report positions Intel as the front-runner to supply the modem in this fall's iPhone, which would make Apple a dual-source buyer of flagship basebands.
First-order effects
- Intel moves from trailing vendor to spec-matched competitor: the XMM 7560's gigabit download, 225 Mbps upload, and CDMA support clear every technical barrier that had kept Intel modems out of full-US-carrier flagship phones, putting it first in line for iPhone socket share alongside Qualcomm.
Second-order effects
- A credible second source forces Qualcomm to defend its baseband franchise on price and roadmap rather than incumbency — visible already in the same-day X20 announcement leapfrogging Intel's spec — and gives Apple leverage over supply terms it lacked as a single-source buyer.
Third-order effects
- If gigabit LTE ships in volume from two vendors, the spec becomes table stakes in flagships, shifting baseband competition up the stack toward 5G — territory where Qualcomm moved first by announcing the X50 5G modem months ago, leaving Intel needing its own next-generation answer.
The trend: Smartphone basebands are racing from gigabit LTE toward 5G, with Intel's emergence as a second source ending Qualcomm's uncontested hold on flagship modem sockets.