iPhone 7 使用 Intel LTE modem chip 的原因

MARK SULLIVAN, The Real Reasons The iPhone 7 Ended Up With An Intel Chip Inside, Fast Company, 09.12.16

In the fine print of the iPhone 7 documentation is the detail that the AT&T and T-Mobile versions of the new device won’t work on Sprint’s and Verizon’s CDMA cell networks. 

Why? For a long time iPhones were one-size-fits-all-networks phones, but the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus each come in two different versions (or SKUs, in industry-speak), one with an Intel modem chip inside and one with a Qualcomm modem. The Intel 7630 modem doesn’t work with Sprint’s and Verizon’s 3G CDMA networks, so all Sprint and Verizon customers will get an iPhone 7 with a Qualcomm chip inside. For everyone else, the iPhone 7 could have either an Intel or a Qualcomm modem.... 

DUAL-SOURCING

Having more than one iPhone SKU complicates things a bit for Apple, it has good reason for doing it. 

Dual-sourcing the modems in the iPhone 7 also give Apple the leverage it likes over its suppliers. That applies not only to component prices but also to timeframes, quantity numbers, and the level of customization of the produce being delivered.