If a new report is to be believed, then we might see Apple relying on a custom made 5G antenna for its 2020 iPhone 5G model. The rumours are suggesting that Apple isn’t very satisfied with Qualcomm’s antenna, and because of this reason the company is planning to make its own custom antenna for 5G in its upcoming 2020 iPhone. Apple is late to the party of 5G smartphones, and we would like to point out that many mainstream smartphone manufacturers including the likes of Samsung, Huawei, and OnePlus, to name a few, have already jumped ship to 5G for their latest flagship models.
According to the report by Fast Company, Apple isn’t very confident about the QTM 525 millimetre-wave antenna offered to the company by Qualcomm, because according to Apple, the antenna doesn’t fit into the sleek industrial design and would instead increase the planned thickness of the 2020 iPhone 5G model. And this is why the Cupertino based tech giant is reportedly planning to design its own custom made 5G antenna for its latest iPhone in 2020.
Now, considering Apple’s history with designing its own custom antennas (yes, we’re pointing at you iPhone 4), we actually don’t know how this scenario will pan out if the company does indeed end up making its own custom 5G antenna. But, the report also says, that Apple typically designs on several tracks and it’s concurrently working on another design that uses both the Qualcomm modem and antenna. The result of this could be a slightly thicker iPhone and we could see the company default to this option later this year.
Apart from all this, one more reason for Apple to design its custom 5G antenna could be the bad blood it shares with Qualcomm. Maybe the custom antenna design isn’t just for industrial design reasons, but in general, Apple wants as few Qualcomm parts in its 5G iPhone as possible.