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December 6, 2024: link here.
Apple’s betting that its upcoming in-house 5G modem could help it beat Qualcomm's performance eventually. Apple has worked on developing its own modem for years, but the initiative reportedly experienced technical issues and other setbacks despite purchasing Intel’s modem unit in 2019.
The first Apple modem is rumored to come to the iPhone SE before appearing in the rumored iPhone “Slim” and entry-level iPads. Down the line, Apple is reportedly planning to roll out a second-generation modem with mmWave in 2026, putting it in the iPhone 18 line and higher-end iPads. In 2027, Bloomberg reports that Apple “hopes to top Qualcomm” with its “Prometheus” modem, which could support AI features and “next-generation satellite networks.”
However, its first chip may fall short of Qualcomm’s in terms of the absolute highest possible speed for a couple of reasons: lacking support for the mmWave technology available in some cities from carriers like Verizon and supporting four-carrier aggregation instead of six.
Those features boost the maximum bandwidth available to multiple gigabits per second, but speeds are typically much slower in the real world, and the current iPhone SE also lacks mmWave support. The new modem will, however, support dual SIM standby, allowing people to have two active SIM cards at the same time.
Original Post
From the article:
Samsung, a key supplier of Apple's memory components, has begun research to accommodate the change at Apple's request.
The shift will mark a departure from the current package-on-package (PoP) method, where the low-power double data rate (LPDDR) DRAM is stacked directly on the System-on-Chip (SoC).
Starting in 2026, the DRAM will instead be packaged separately from the SoC, which should significantly improve memory bandwidth and enhance the iPhone's AI capabilities.
This is fascinating:
The current PoP configuration was first introduced in the iPhone 4 in 2010 and favored since then for its compact design. Stacking the memory directly atop the SoC minimizes the physical footprint, which is especially important for mobile devices where space is at a premium. However, PoP packaging imposes constraints that limit its suitability for AI applications, which require faster data transfer rates and more memory bandwidth.
Aha! This makes sense:
With PoP, the size of the memory package is constrained by the size of the SoC, capping the number of I/O pins and therefore limiting performance.
Moving to discrete packaging will allow the memory to be physically separated from the SoC, enabling the addition of more I/O pins. This design change should increase the data transfer rate and the number of parallel data channels.
Separating the memory from the SoC also provides better heat dissipation.
Tech is tracked here.
Chips are tracked here.
Apple is tracked here.
Seldom is anything Apple now develops "revolutionary" in the eyes of the analysts, but over time, these small changes add up.
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