Apple Isn't Planning to Add LTE to Its A8 Chip [Report]

Apple is not planning to integrate its own LTE modem into the upcoming A8 chip, according to a report from Fudzilla.

The site notes that Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 comes in an SoC package that includes an LTE 160Mbits/s modem and other companies are working on integrated modems as well.

Nvidia will have LTE inside the Tegra 4i. Intel has something in the works, a SoC that will have an integrated Sofia LTE, but only in 2015. Mediatek, a company that it gaining a lot of ground, should have an integrated SoC with LTE on board a chip that might fight the Tegra 4i and it might be a fierce competitor.


Apple, on the other hand, is reportedly just working on making a fast 64-bit ARM-based successor to the A7 and will likely continue to use Qualcomm's external chip for the iPhone 6.

Fudzilla expects the company to improve the GPU performance of its chip.

Apple traditionally allocates a huge portion of a SoC for graphics and we have no doubt that Apple will continue to offer great GPU performance, but in 2014, we believe that Tegra K1 or its Denver 64-bit sibling might take the GPU crown for the 2014. There is also Qualcomm with the Snapdragon 805 and Adreno 420, but we will have to wait and see as Adreno 420 doesn’t look faster than Tegra K1 at this point.

Another report on the A8 surfaced yesterday from Taiwan. Apparently, Samsung may have had to abandon orders for the Apple A8 processor due to low production yields. More details on that here.


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