Intel’s Infineon is looking to return to producing cellular baseband chips for Apple products, claims Cowen and Company’s Timothy Acuri. The analyst says that while Qualcomm currently provides the baseband for Apple devices — and is expected to hold orders for the rest of 2014 — talks between Apple and Intel are accelerating regarding Infineon’s inclusion in 2015 iPhones. Acuri suggests that Apple has “re-embraced” Intel, although he also speculates that it may simply be trying to extract better prices from Qualcomm.
He in fact argues that Qualcomm could potentially replace Broadcom when it comes to supplying the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip used in iPhones. Qualcomm has reportedly made “significant strides in its roadmap” that could let it compete.
The last iPhone to use Infineon technology was the GSM edition of the iPhone 4. Even the CDMA version of the phone was equipped with Qualcomm technology, and the switch was completed with the launch of the iPhone 4S.
