As is always the case, Apple are playing catch up in 2020. The company is well known for taking their sweet time to really optimize tech that’s been in the market for about a year or so, and the iPhone 12? 20? (It’s hard to tell) is no different. If rumours are to be believed, 2020 will be the year that Apple finally redesigns the iPhone. Of course, that’s not the only thing to be excited about. The device will also be Apple’s first foray into the 5G phone market.

With most Android devices utilizing Qualcomm’s 5G antennas, Apple was all set to do the same as well. Especially given the fact that the both companies surprisingly settled their bitter dispute, allowing them to resume business. You see, Apple may have bought over Intel’s entire 5G modem business, but Intel was unable to provide 5G chips for Apple in the time frame it wanted so of course, the company had to rely on Qualcomm once more.

That being said however, a new report from Fast Company indicates that Apple is exploring the possibility of designing its own 5G antenna, thus limiting its reliance on Qualcomm. Apparently, the main issue is that Apple is looking at the possibility of a slim profile for its next iPhone and the size of Qualcomm’s QTM25 antenna, which is specifically for accessing mmWave 5G frequencies is too big to fit into the slimmed down device.

The importance of mmWave frequency when it comes to 5G cannot be underplayed at Apple knows this.  Antennas for mmWave provide devices with faster speeds but usually also require multiple antennas for good connectivity, given how bad the range is. It’s worth noting however that all of this are just rumours for now, with Apple apparently having the option of going with a thinner iPhone model that utilizes Apple-made antennas or a thicker phone body that utilizes Qualcomms.

The next series of iPhones should launch sometime in September, but you can be rest assured that the leaks will come rolling in way before that so, stay tuned.