IPhone signal is poor, talk about the current predicament of Apple baseband

For Apple, the start of 2020 has not been smooth.

Because of the epidemic, Apple’s press conferences this year are all online press conferences. Although the online press conferences can show more things, the atmosphere makes people unable to feel the AMAZING among them, and iPhone’s first 5G mobile phone It has also been delayed to launch, which makes people wonder whether there will be 5G Apple phones in 2020? Until the launch of the iPhone 12 series.

I should say that even if the iPhone 12 is released, there are still many problems. Green screen issues, slow charging speed issues, endurance rollover issues, etc., and even signal issues continue to appear. This is a disaster for Apple: First, this is Apple’s first 5G mobile phone. It was a year late to release the 5G mobile phone, and there were signal problems. This was obviously not the result Apple wanted; second, Apple The successful acquisition of Intel’s mobile phone baseband business last year has itself solved the signal problems that have frequently occurred in iPhone phones in recent years. However, the earlier argument was that it would take at least 3 to 5 years to form productivity, even if it is fast. year.

The iPhone 12 still has such common problems. Obviously, Apple needs to “speed up”. This can be seen from the information that the media broke earlier.

According to a Bloomberg report, Johny Srouji, senior vice president of Apple’s hardware technology department, disclosed in a meeting with employees on Thursday that Apple has started the development of its first self-developed baseband chip this year, which will be used in Apple’s future hardware products. , To replace similar chips from Qualcomm. Although there is no accurate time for the shipment of self-developed baseband chips, Apple is bound to speed up due to these unfavorable news.

The relevant industry chain believes that in order to thoroughly improve the problem of poor mobile phone signals, Apple will not only develop baseband research and development, but will also develop related radio frequency chips, antennas and other related components. This is a long process, depending on whether Apple can proceed quickly with its own strength.

According to foreign media reports, even if Apple can accelerate this process, it seems that Apple can only choose Qualcomm baseband in the next 2 to 3 years-because this involves the content agreed upon when Apple and Qualcomm reached a settlement: that is, until In 2023, all new iPhones will use Qualcomm baseband.

The content of the agreement is as follows:

From June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021, some Apple products need to use Qualcomm X55 baseband chips;

From June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022, some Apple products need to use Qualcomm X60 baseband chips;

From June 1, 2022 to May 31, 2024, some Apple products need to use Qualcomm X65 or X70 baseband chips.

Under these difficulties, I personally guess that Apple’s approach may be twofold: 1. Accelerate the R&D process of its own baseband business and test it on its own prototype; 2. Judging from the provisions of the agreement, the two parties only limit “some Apple products” “This statement means that as long as Apple chooses Qualcomm’s baseband for some of its iPhones in the next few years, as long as Apple’s self-developed baseband comes out, it may be possible to put it out for a try.

Just like Apple’s launch of the Mac self-developed computer chip M1 this year, it has achieved a huge leap, and its integration is extremely high! Its success will also help Apple build confidence in other products and self-developed technologies. Just recently, Apple’s M1 chip has also received much praise from Qualcomm’s President An Meng: the success of M1 “confirms” Qualcomm’s Calculate the belief in the future.

Let’s talk about it: two years later, there may be an iPhone equipped with an Apple baseband! Do you think it is possible?