Report: Apple will use Qualcomm's X55 5G modem in all three 2020 iPhones
Apple's 2020 iPhones will all use Qualcomm's newest and fastest 5G-capable modem chip, claims a new report out of Asia today. — Apple is expected to launch three iPhones next year in 5.4-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.7-inch sizes.
Context & Ripple Effects
The 2020 modem story has flipped twice. In late 2018, sourcing pointed to Intel's 8161 chip making Intel the likely sole modem supplier for that year's iPhones; by mid-2019, Ming-Chi Kuo's three-model 2020 forecast put 5G only in the high-end 5.4-inch and 6.7-inch devices, with Apple's own modem not ready until 2022 or 2023.
This new Asia-sourced report collapses both assumptions at once: Qualcomm's X55 goes into all three sizes — 5.4, 6.1, and 6.7 inches — meaning no tier of the 2020 lineup ships without 5G, and Qualcomm, not Intel, owns the socket. The longer arc matters too: Bloomberg's later reporting shows Apple still building toward an in-house modem, with a debut planned for the iPhone SE and second-gen parts reaching higher-end models like the iPhone 18 lineup.
First-order effects
- Qualcomm displaces Intel as the modem supplier for the entire 2020 iPhone lineup, turning what was framed as a single-vendor Intel year into a single-vendor Qualcomm year.
- 5G moves down-stack: the lower-end 6.1-inch model Kuo expected to stay on 4G now gets Qualcomm's fastest modem alongside the two flagship sizes.
Second-order effects
- With Apple's own modem years away per Kuo's 2022–2023 timeline, Qualcomm holds sole-supplier leverage over the highest-volume phone line in the industry for multiple product cycles.
- Intel's 8161 program loses its anchor customer, leaving Intel without the flagship smartphone socket it was positioned to win just a year earlier.
Third-order effects
- The dependency this report cements is exactly what Apple's subsequent modem program responds to: an in-house part debuting in the iPhone SE and scaling to premium iPhones by 2026, if that schedule holds.
- The episode fits the broader pattern of merchant silicon vs. in-house design in smartphones — suppliers gain multi-year lock-in when a customer's internal replacement slips, then face displacement once it lands.
The trend: Smartphone baseband supply is cycling from merchant vendor lock-in back toward in-house silicon, with Apple's modem roadmap slipping from a 2022–2023 target toward a 2025–2026 rollout.