Picked up by AppleInsider, Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala has teased something everything Apple fan should be excited about: new iPhones are coming with 5G.
Speaking at Qualcomm’s earnings reveal, Palkhiwala revealed the company would ship a massive 200 million units of its 5G smartphone chip next year thanks to “two inflection points” in 2020. The first comes from the launch of Samsung’s heavily leaked Galaxy S11 in February, while the second comes “in the fall time frame when another set of flagship devices will adopt 5G.”
This leaves nothing to the imagination. The only major smartphone upgrades which launch in the fall are the new Galaxy Note (which has already adopted 5G in 2019), Google’s Pixel 5 (which will move to 5G but doesn’t sell anywhere near enough units to boost Qualcomm numbers so high). And then there’s Apple’s all-new iPhone 12 and the iPhone 11 range took a risk by skipping 5G this year.
Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon immediately pegged this noting that Qualcomm’s huge 200M estimate was not “hugely surprising” because 2020 iPhones will adopt these chips. This follows on from a leak by acclaimed Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo in July that every 2020 iPhone will get 5G, while Apple has also talked up its 5G plans.
Qualcomm’s X50 5G modem already hit smartphones this year and now iPhones are next
QUALCOMM
Moreover, 5G is just the starting point for these new iPhones. Thanks to more leaks we already know how Apple will change the design, offer new screen sizes, add ProMotion displays, ditch the Lightning port, reintroduce Touch ID and add a long-range 3D camera.
Unsurprisingly, the one big fear is the changes will introduce significant price hikes but after two years of incremental change, it is clear Apple plans to get iPhone quickening pulses again.
[“source=forbes”]
