Apple has chosen Intel to supply radio chips for of its next generation iPhones.
According to reports, the iPhone maker has chosen Intel to supply modems for its upcoming iPhone7 supplied to AT&T network.
People familiar with the development told Bloomberg that Intel chips will also be used in other versions of iPhone7 to be sold overseas.
Qualcomm, which is a long time supplier of Apple, will continue to supply main communications components. It will also supply components to iPhones to be sold in China.
Apple’s choice of Intel chips is a huge boost for the Santa Clara based company as it looks to compete against market leader Qualcomm in baseband processors. These processors are used to connect phones to networks and convert radio signals into voice and data.
Since 2010, Qualcomm has been supplying baseband chips to iPhones.
There were already rumours floating that the Apple is looking to diversify its supplier base in order to keep prices under check.
According to earlier reports, Intel was gearing up to ramp up production of 7360 LTE modem and created a dedicated team of 1000 people.
These chips could wean some business away from Qualcomm, as it has been supplying 9X45 LTE chips to iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
The latest order could be huge boost for Intel which lost $7bn in mobile chip business during 2013 to 2014.
It later merged the unit into PC chip segment in 2015 and even discontinued some of the low end mobile chips.
Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf has already hinted in April about the contraction in sales, saying that it could lose some of its business from large customer to a second supplier, without naming Apple or Intel.
