Apple is planning on launching three iPhones in 2020, two of which will be 5G compatible, according to a report by CNBC.
The 5G support will be with the help of modems by Qualcomm, which just settled a lawsuit with Apple, and the news comes via a note by TF International Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo.
Apple is also reportedly making its own 5G chips, which could be ready as soon as 2022 or ‘23, and the company is moving forward on the tech despite the ban on Huawei by the United States.
The phones will have 6.7-, 6.1- and 5.4-inch screens. They’ll all have OLED screens, which have more color than previous models’ LCD panels. The company’s previous two models, the XS and the XS Max, both feature OLED technology. The XR, which is less expensive, has an LCD panel.
The 6.1 inch will not be 5G compatible. The iPhones are going to utilize Qualcomm’s 5G modem technology, and the note says that “the content of Apple and Qualcomm’s previous settlement includes Qualcomm’s release of partly 5G baseband chip source code to Apple for Apple’s development of [its] own 5G.”
Apple is planning on releasing iPhones in September of this year, but they won’t have 5G network support, as opposed to Samsung, which has a 5G phone called the Galaxy S10 5G, and works on various carriers.
The new 5G technology allows for faster data speeds, and won’t just be used in phones, which is why the implications for the tech are so large. It’ll be used in cameras, self-driving cars and all kinds of IoT devices in cities and homes. This is why the U.S. banned Huawei’s tech; it’s worried about spying by the Chinese.
“Apple’s 5G iPhone strategy became more aggressive after the U.S. export ban on Huawei,” Kuo said. “We estimate that 5G iPhone will account for around 60 percent of total new 2H20 iPhone shipments (vs. consensus’s 20 percent).”
