Intel had been expected to have its modem inside the “new” iPhone SE upsetting Qualcomm. But it looks like Intel’s new modem is a little too advanced for the iPhone SE.

Apple claims that the modems it has used in the SE provide LTE speeds in excess of 50 per cent more than the X5 modem it used in the iPhone 5S and has download speeds of up to 225 MPs. This would make Qualcomm’s X7 modem the likely candidate since it offers download speeds of 300 MPs and upload speeds of 50 MPs.

Intel’s modem was likely to be the Intel XMM 7260 or XMM 7262 slim modems with LTA Advanced support. Both modems support Cat. 6 LTE-Advanced, 22 bands at 300 Mb/s including world support.

It is not clear why Apple dropped Chipzilla. When our sources told us that Intel was getting the deal they said that the only way it could go pear shaped is if Chipzilla was very late on the making the modems. Rumours were that Intel was ramping up production so it did not seem that the modems would be late. 

The news of Apple using only Qualcomm for its models came as a surprise to Wall Street analysts, who were expecting Apple to diversify its suppliers with a chunk of its modem business going Chipzilla’s way.