iPhone 7 Expected to Deliver Super-Fast Cat. 10 LTE Wireless Data Speeds

It can be dizzying, at times, to keep pace with all the rumors swirling about Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 7; and it’s only reasonable to assume the whirlwind will only get fiercer as we progress into the late spring and early summer months — ahead of the handset’s almost certain fall release.

However, what might leave you feeling just a bit more faint, if the latest report turns out to be factual, are the LTE speeds that might be within reach of the company’s 10th generation handset.

The report, which was penned by CLSA analyst, Srini Pajjuri, alleges that Intel will be providing “between 30% and 40%” of the LTE modems for the upcoming iPhone 7, and that Apple is presently considering the manufacturer’s newest XMM 7360 LTE modem.

This particular chip delivers LTE data speeds as fast at Cat 10 — meaning, in other words, that the device could potentially support speeds as fast as 450Mbps on the downlink, and 100Mbps on the uplink, which is, theoretically speaking, about twice as fast as Apple’s current LTE chips from Qualcomm.

The iPhone maker is currently employing Qualcomm’s MDM9635 LTE modem on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus — which provides speeds as fast as 300Mbps down, and about 50Mbps up. Such a transition in hardware, of course, is likely to have a huge, negative impact on Qualcomm’s revenue — albeit at the glory of boosting Intel’s prospects.

And, if the LTE modems in and of themselves aren’t enough of a potential blow to Apple’s existing suppliers, the report also suggests that the Cupertino, California, tech-giant is currently toying with the idea of transitioning its A-series SoC manufacturing to Intel, as well — and thus, relinquishing it from the company’s current suppliers Samsung and TSMC. That would be a major blow to those two companies, as well, especially considering how the last we heard from the rumor mill, 100% of Apple’s upcoming A10 SoC production was supposedly given entirely to TSMC.

Pajjuri indicates within his report that this news was provided by Apple’s “Asian supply chain checks.” Surprisingly, he goes on to note that Apple will “share shift back” to Qualcomm in 2017 when Apple releases the ‘iPhone 7s’. It would be a strange move if this scenario ultimately came to play, however we can’t exactly sit here and say we haven’t seen stranger things happen.

It’s also worth considering that a similar rumor, which began circulating around this same time last year, indicated that Intel would be producing up to half of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus’ LTE modems.

Well, that ultimately didn’t pan out to be the case; however, last October, reports about Apple using the aforementioned Intel XMM 7360 for the iPhone 7 first began to surface.

And, after all, that was months ago, right? So it may very well be that Apple is, in fact, working on a plan to incorporate the new chips — though we won’t know for certain until later on this fall.

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[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]