Last week, there were reports of Huawei interested in offering its 5G modem to Apple for future iPhones. Now, Huawei’s Chairman Ken Hu has clarified that Huawei’s CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei was only praising Apple and that both companies have not had any discussions in this regard.

The original report was misinterpreted by the media thinking that Apple was in discussion with Huawei for the latter’s 5G modem for future iPhones. Apple’s 5G iPhone plans are reportedly in a fix due to Intel not being able to stick to its 5G modem development plans. And Apple’s legal battle with Qualcomm means the company cannot source its 5G modem from the San Diego company.

“We have not had discussions with Apple on this issue,” Huawei’s rotating Chairman Ken Hu said on Tuesday, adding he looked forward to Apple’s competition in the 5G phone market.

Apple has never sourced any of the iPhone components from Huawei. Given the fierce rivalry between the two companies and Huawei’s habit of stealing tech from U.S. companies, it is likely that Apple is wary of sourcing any components from them.

Apple has also been developing its own in-house modem but that is still a few years away from reaching its final form and won’t be ready by 2020 when Apple seemingly intends to launch a 5G iPhone. Given the fix that Apple is currently in, it is possible that it will just end up delaying the release of a 5G iPhone to 2021. Since 5G networks are still in nascent stages and there’s still a lot of work still left to be done, Apple can get away by delaying a 5G iPhone until 2021. The additional time will allow the company to finish its in-house modem or wait for Intel’s engineering team to do its job.

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What are your thoughts about Apple launching a 5G iPhone in 2020? Do you want a 5G iPhone next year? Or do you think Apple will get by just fine if it delays the 5G iPhone release to 2021?

[Via Reuters]

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