Since the second half of 2018, 5G has received a lot of attention, especially with the launch of Snapdragon 855, the pace of 5G mobile phones seems to be closer to us. At present, the hardware differences of smartphones are getting smaller and smaller. Simply improving the configuration can no longer stimulate consumer purchase demand. In addition, the concepts of "full screen" and "photography" are over-hyped nowadays, so this model is claimed by Qualcomm. Snapdragon 855, which "will open a new era of mobile terminals for the next ten years", will undoubtedly give the currently weak mobile phone market a shot in the arm.
The arrival of the 5G era
2019 is the first year of 5G. Huawei, Samsung and other manufacturers have launched 5G mobile phones as soon as possible, but Apple has not made any big moves. There are even media reports that Apple will launch a 5G mobile phone in 2020. As a giant in the mobile phone industry, why does Apple delay the release of 5G mobile phones? In fact, there are two main reasons.
The first point is that the current 5G is immature. From the current point of view, 5G is more like a gimmick, because 5G network cannot be realized only by chips. Honor Zhao Ming once said: "For 5G mobile phones to be commercialized, you must first have a 5G network." It is not difficult to see that before the large-scale establishment of 5G signal base stations, 5G mobile phones cannot currently realize the use of 5G networks, so the popularity of 5G will take a long time Depends on the three major operators. From the current point of view, the main models of various mobile phone manufacturers will not use 5G technology, so the major manufacturers are more like "flexing their muscles" in order to grab the first launch of 5G mobile phones.
The second point is that Apple’s current situation cannot directly launch 5G chips. The most direct reason is Qualcomm’s patent lawsuit against Apple last year. Apple paid a huge settlement fee and will need to pay higher patent fees for every future Apple phone. This is a relatively normal result. Qualcomm’s patents in the communications industry, as well as some patents on mobile phone terminals, are difficult for Apple to circumvent. Relatively speaking, Intel’s patent umbrella is not enough to protect Apple. There are still not enough patent layouts. At the same time, Intel's 5G baseband research and development also has some problems and cannot meet Apple's expectations. After Apple and Qualcomm reconciled, Intel also gave up the production of 5G basebands for mobile phones. This may be one of the reasons why Apple had to bow to Qualcomm.
Since 2016, Apple has used Intel’s baseband on some iPhone 7 mobile phones. Prior to that, Qualcomm had been Apple’s supplier of baseband chips. In 2017, Apple refused to pay Qualcomm's US$1 billion in patent fees, and the two companies completely turned against each other. Since then, Intel has become Apple's baseband supplier. However, Intel's XMM8161 baseband chip will not be mass-produced until 2020, so Apple has no choice but to postpone the release of iPhones that support 5G until 2020.
The current homogeneity of mobile phones has become more and more serious, especially the excessive hype of full-screen and photo-taking, which has made many consumers feel indifferent. 5G is a good promotional tool for mobile phones. Manufacturers are bound to follow suit. But it has to be said that although the emergence of 5G will have far less impact on the mobile phone industry than the upgrade from 3G to 4G, Apple will undoubtedly be at a disadvantage in the brutal competition in the mobile phone market in 2019. Apple is waiting for Qualcomm’s second-generation 5G baseband X55, which can support 2/3/4/5G. Qualcomm's second-generation X55 baseband can support 2/3/4/5G at the same time. This kind of baseband is more suitable for Apple. Qualcomm's second batch of X55 is still a PPT product and has not been officially launched for commercial use. This has caused Apple's 5G mobile phones to be delayed. Moreover, there is now some news that the launch of Qualcomm's X55 will be delayed, which will further slow down the launch of Apple's 5G mobile phones.