Source: Intel has missed deadlines for the development of a 5G modem for the 2020 iPhones; Apple has 1,000-1,200 engineers working on modems for future iPhones
[Updated with Intel comment Wednesday 11:30 p.m. Pacific Time] — As of now Apple plans to release a 5G iPhone in 2020.
Context & Ripple Effects
Intel was positioned to be the big winner of the 5G transition: a prior report had Apple launching an iPhone with Intel's 8161 modem and Intel as likely sole modem supplier for the 2020 lineup. That plan is now unraveling — sources say Intel has missed development deadlines, and Apple plans a 5G iPhone in 2020 regardless.
The report also reveals Apple's insurance policy: 1,000–1,200 engineers working on modems for future iPhones, an effort that echoes Intel's own thousand-plus-person push on the 7360 LTE chip back in 2015. The stakes are high because Apple had deliberately kept Qualcomm at arm's length, making Intel its escape route.
First-order effects
- Apple's 2020 5G iPhone can no longer ride on Intel silicon, forcing a return to Qualcomm — which is exactly what happened when reports landed that all three 2020 iPhones would use Qualcomm's X55 5G modem.
- Intel loses the flagship smartphone socket it had spent years chasing, putting its multi-year modem investment — from the 2015-era 7360 LTE effort onward — at risk of never paying off.
Second-order effects
- Qualcomm regains pricing and licensing leverage over Apple just as the 5G cycle begins, since Apple's diversification bet on Intel collapsed at the worst possible moment.
- Apple's 1,000–1,200-strong in-house modem team becomes strategically urgent rather than exploratory, accelerating a program that would take years more to mature.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points to vertical integration as the endgame for Apple's most critical components: the in-house modem effort seeded here eventually ships, though only after repeated slips — with postponements pushing Apple's own modem to late 2025 or early 2026 under an extended Qualcomm contract.
- For merchant chip suppliers like Intel, the lesson is structural: the largest phone makers will fund internal replacements for any single-source component they depend on, shrinking the pool of durable external sockets.
The trend: Smartphone leaders are absorbing their most strategic chips in-house, and each supplier stumble — like Intel's missed 5G deadlines — accelerates the shift while extending the incumbents' contracts in the meantime.