Apple taking steps toward iPhone 5

Even as it prerpares for an imminent introduction of the iPad 2.0, Apple has begun sourcing components for iPhone 5, choosing Qualcomm for the baseband chip and a faster ARM chip for the processor.

Kinsus Interconnect Technology seems set to enter Apple’s supply chain for iPhone 5, as the new smartphone will adopt Qualcomm’s baseband chipsets, which use Kinsus IC substrates, according to a Chinese language Apple Daily report.

The report also claims Apple intends adopting a variant of ARM’s A8 processor, suggesting the company may continues using a version of its existing chip, rather than migrating to the A9 processor.

The existing A8-based Apple A4 chip is a single 1GHz processsor, with memory and graphics chips sandwiched inside the same die as the processor itself. However, Apple has been expected to move to a multi-core chip next year.

Qualcomm sources FC-CSP substrates from Kinsus and South Korea’s Semco, the report said, adding that Kinsus could account for 30-40% of the iPhone 5 orders. Orders are likely to land toward the end of the current quarter, reports claim, as the iPhone 5 seems scheduled to land in Q2.

There’s potentially more in this report, here’s the original and here’s the translation.