According to a report by the China Economic News, Apple will use 3G wireless chips from Qualcomm in its upcoming iPhone 5 and iPad 2. The move would displace Infineon which has supplied chipsets for all iPhones to date. The decision appears to have been made in part due to the fact that Intel recently acquired Infineon’s wireless unit.
Qualcomm will reportedly contract Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to manufacture the 3G chipsets (using TSMC’s 65-nanometre process).
The same report suggests that Apple has dumped Broadcom in favour of Qualcomm for the base-band chipset in the upcoming iPad 2.
The China Economic News reports that Apple will launch both the iPhone 5 and iPad 2 in mid-2011.