Intel may be destined for iPhone, iPad

Will Intel chips land in the iPhone and iPad? They may if reports are correct that Intel is on the verge of buying Germany-based Infineon's wireless chip unit.

A variety of reports from both Europe and U.S.-based newspapers have been hinting at an imminent Intel-Infineon deal. So, where would that situate Intel-Infineon inside the current versions of the iPhone and iPad?

Reputable teardown sites make it clear that Infineon silicon plays a pretty important role in the iPad and iPhone 4. UMB TechInsights shows two chips: An Infineon A GSM/W-CDMA transceiver and a baseband processor.

The baseband processor--which handles the 3G connection--is one of the most critical chips. "This processor has HSDPA/HSUPA capabilities of 7.2Mbps/2.9Mbps and the ability to connect to cameras with up to 5 MPixels like the one found on the iPhone 4G (the X-GOLD 618 version)," according to TechInsights. (HSDPA stands for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access. HSUPA is the acronym for High-Speed Uplink Packet Access.)

Ironically, those are communication chips, the very business that Intel sold in 2006 to its Silicon Valley neighbor Marvell. And that technology transfer to Marvell included Intel's StrongARM applications processor. ARM processors like Apple's A4 and Texas Instruments' OMAP (inside the Motorola Droid and Droid X) are powering some of the most popular gadgets today.

History aside, the deal would put a post-Infineon-acquisition Intel inside a host of devices beyond the current iPhone and iPad. Infineon communication chips are also used in mobile phones from Nokia and Samsung.

[gerrrg]

Indeed, lots of irony there.

[EZInfo]

Yeah this is a great thing to have!

[truthiness79]

wasnt Infineon one of the companies charged with the price fixing conspiracy? why would Intel want to be associated with that?

[ckh1272]

@truthiness79--Because they would have something in common.

[vidwa]

DUH

[freemarket--2008]

Intel has done worse. Why would they care?

[tomofpittsburgh]

I dunno. Seems to me if anybody's gonna fix the prices for Apple products it's going to be Apple.

[Vision33r]

This is a dumb report. Apple's own A4 processor runs in the iPhone 4 and iPad. Why would Apple waste time and money on Intel CPU when they recently acquired the A4 chip designer company then designing and producing their own chip.

Sounds like more FUD.