3G Apple iPhone Potentially Powered by Infineon Chip Available This Year

Apple’s iPhone has been selling like hot cake since its official launch last year. No doubt it has some great features such as multi scroll and excellent software sets but when comes to network capability, the gadget doesn’t seems to be at the leading edge with only EDGE or 2.5G support even when most of competitors already have 3G enabled handsets in the market. An UBS Analyst, Nicolas Gaudois speculated that the famous Germany chipmaker, Infineon will continue supplying Apple with its new HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) RF chip, replacing its current EDGE baseband solution for next generation Apple’s iPhone.

The new chip, with HSDPA capability will consist of baseband controller and RF module integrated into one. Since the main reason for current iPhone to be limited to 2.5G is due to its high power consumption, the new chip is featured with some power management solution that able to provide better thermal efficiency needed for next generation or more powerful iPhone. Analyst also stated that Infineon may not able to keep its production lines for both EDGE and 3G chips simultaneously, and should ramp down or eventually phased out, giving full swing to the mass production of its next generation 3G chip. The 3G enabled iPhone is believed to be available commercially by mid of this year.