Months of rumors about iPhone 7 they told us that Intel will produce a modem LTE 4G which the Apple company will use in its terminal after officially launching it on global markets. These rumors turn out to be 100% true, and Apple created a special model of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to implement an Intel 4G LTE modem.
This year, the Apple company made four models of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, two for GSM and two for CDMA, although last year it was not so complicated. The change was based on a very interesting motivation, namely the fact that Apple entered into a partnership with Intel to buy a 4G LTE modem for the iPhone 7.
The modem from Intel is not compatible with the CDMA networks of Verizon and Sprint in the USA, or in other areas of the planet, so it is used in the iPhone 7 GSM sold in the USA and probably in other areas of the world. If the CDMA models use exclusively Qualcomm modem chips, the global GSM ones use both Intel and Qualcomm modems.
iPhone 7 has a 4G LTE modem produced by Intel
Sources within Apple have confirmed that the launch of two different iPhone 7 models was based on the company's desire to work with Intel and put pressure on Qualcomm. By making this change, Apple has more power in negotiations with Qualcomm, from which it will buy fewer components, but at much better prices.
If Intel had 4G LTE modems compatible with all networks, as Qualcomm has, Apple would have been in a much better situation, but this is how it is forced to get involved. With 2 different models of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Apple has more headaches when it comes to production and software, but the financial gain is probably substantial.
Having said that, there is a possibility to receive iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus terminals with Intel modem in Romania, but it remains to be seen if the performance will be up to expectations.
