Apple-designed 5G modems coming soon

[Cmaier]

Apple strikes 'multibillion-dollar' deal with Broadcom for 5G parts | Engadget

Apple has made a deal with Broadcom to build 5G components in the US..

www.engadget.com

Apple expands US investment with new multibillion-dollar Broadcom deal for 5G tech

Apple has announced a major new partnership with Broadcom, one of its long-time supplier partners. This new partnership, which Apple...

9to5mac.com

To be clear, it looks like this involves things like FBARs, which are specialized components used for creating signals at a given frequency. Broadcom was bought a few years back by Avago, which makes those things (I was briefly and humorously involved in a case involving someone who stole an Avago fbar design, and helped prove it).

I don;t think Broadcom has anything to do with the baseband chip itself.

 

[Colstan]

It looks like acquiring Intel's modem business is paying off. If that is the case, it sounds like the problem was with Intel's management, not the engineers. Regardless, good to see some manufacturing inside of the U.S. and not another shady contractor in China. It also appears to be more than the PR dog and pony show of assembling a few dozen Mac Pros in Texas.

 

[Colstan]

I don;t think Broadcom has anything to do with the baseband chip itself.

You ninja'd your original post while I was typing. I assume these are support parts for the modem? Or is this nothing actually noteworthy?

 

[Cmaier]

You ninja'd your original post while I was typing. I assume these are support parts for the modem? Or is this nothing actually noteworthy?

They are parts you need to surround the modem.

It’s actually not entirely clear what is going on here, but it does indicate to me that this is likely for apple’s own modem.

 

[leman]

Apple has been registering a huge amount of patents related to wireless modem functionality in the last months. They are certainly busy.

 

[Citysnaps]

They are parts you need to surround the modem.

It’s actually not entirely clear what is going on here, but it does indicate to me that this is likely for apple’s own modem.

I'm guessing they (FBARs) are used as a duplexer, allowing a cellphone receiver and transmitter to simultaneously use a single antenna, while providing high RF isolation between the receiver port and transmitter port (so the transmitter will not overload the receiver). It's an analog part, similar to a SAW filter.

 

[Roller]

I see that FBAR stands for thin-Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator. Good thing it's not thin-Film Ultra Bulk Acoustic Resonator.

 

[jbailey]

You ninja'd your original post while I was typing. I assume these are support parts for the modem? Or is this nothing actually noteworthy?

Apparently worth at least $1 billion to Broadcom and all of it in the US.

Edit: Reports are saying a multi-billion deal over 5 years.

 

[Cmaier]

I'm guessing they (FBARs) are used as a duplexer, allowing a cellphone receiver and transmitter to simultaneously use a single antenna, while providing high RF isolation between the receiver port and transmitter port (so the transmitter will not overload the receiver). It's an analog part, similar to a SAW filter.

Yep. They are BAWs, not SAWs, but same idea. Existing iphones all have them as well, and I thought they were already supplied by Broadcom (potentially via Qualcomm), so that’s why I’m still a little uncertain about what, exactly, the announcement means.