No 5G iPhone in 2019 As Intel 5G Chips Won't Come Out Before 2020

On Friday, Intel said it won’t release 5G chips for phones till 2020, the news was reported by Reuters. This means Apple may not release a 5G iPhone soon to join the race with its rivals.

According to Sandra Rivera, head of Intel’s 5G strategy, customers will get to see sample 5G processors this year, but it will be 2020 when consumer products actually get 5G chips. Additionally, Rivera said that 5G devices which are not meant for consumers like networking gear will come out at some other time this year. Intel confirmed the information in Reuter's report.

For now, we still cannot say for sure if this Intel news means Apple won't have a 5G iPhone in 2019, but the Cupertino-based company said it wouldn't rush to adopt the technology.

Many big players are racing to get the 5G technology in their hands, including Sprint and Verizon as telecom providers as well as Samsung and LG as phone makers. Qualcomm is currently having modems that will power the 5G phones which launch this year. Meanwhile, Appl has stopped using Qualcomm's modem chips following a legal lawsuit between the two.

Apple didn't respond to a request comment immediately.

In separate news, on Tuesday, the company unveiled the Snapdragon X55 5G modem, the new offering can run on not only 5G devices but also 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. While it’s not Qualcomm’s first 5G chip, the 7nm processor is the very first to work on multiple networks. Plus, the chip will allow phone makers to produce unlocked 5G handsets, similar to 4G LTE devices. The X55 is the descendant of the X50, which was announced a couple years ago but it was not until now that the X50 comes to phones. Different from the X55, this chip can only run on 5G networks, so phone makers have to pack along a second modem for 2G, 3G, and 4G in their offerings.