Intel Accelerates Launch of XMM 8160 5G Modem, Paves Way for First 5G iPhone

Intel announced the XMM 8160 5G modem today, a multimode modem optimized to provide 5G connectivity to devices like phones, PCs and broadband access gateways.

The company has accelerated the launch of this modem by over half year. It will be available in the second half of 2019 and will support speeds of up to 6 gigabits per second, three to six times faster than the latest LTE modems.

"Intel’s new XMM 8160 5G modem provides the ideal solution to support large volumes for scaling across multiple device categories to coincide with broad 5G deployments", said Dr. Cormac Conroy, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of the Communication and Devices Group. "We are seeing great demand for the advanced feature set of the XMM 8160, such that we made a strategic decision to pull in the launch of this modem by half a year to deliver a leading 5G solution."

The Intel XMM 8160 is a multimode modem, meaning it will support the new standard for 5G New Radio (NR), including standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) modes, as well as 4G, 3G and 2G legacy radios in a single chipset.

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With single-chip multimode baseband capability, the Intel XMM 8160 5G modem will enable device manufacturers to design smaller and more power-efficient devices. This can be achieved without the added complexity, power management and form factor adjustments of two separate modems for 5G and legacy connectivity, as will be introduced in early competing 5G modems. By advancing directly to a multimode solution, Intel will offer very clear improvements in power, size and scalability. Intel’s integrated multimode solution supports simultaneous connectivity (EN-DC) for LTE and 5G – critical as 5G mobile network devices must be backward compatible to 4G if 5G is not available at any moment or at any location.

The modem offers advanced technology needed to support new millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum as well as sub 6 GHz 5G NR support (including FDD and TDD bands from 600 MHz to 6 GHz) and download speeds up to 6 Gbps. The industry move to mmWave and mid-band spectrum addresses the enormous need for more bandwidth for users, devices and connected machines.


Finally, the modem is designed to scale. With worldwide carrier support, broad platform certification and broad OEM support, the Intel XMM 8160 modem delivers 5G capabilities that operators and device makers can rely on for their global deployments.
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The Intel XMM 8160 5G modem is expected to ship in the second half of 2019 with commercial devices becoming available in the first half of 2020. This should give Apple plenty of time to test the chip. Apple is expected to select Intel as the exclusive provider of 5G modems for the 2020 iPhone which may use the next generation XMM 8161 modem.

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