Word on the street is that Apple wants to see other people and has been seen in fashionable places with other suppliers.

Qualcomm is partnering with TSMC to supply all of the modem chips for use in the new iPhones slated for launch in September 2015, the sources said. The chips are built using TSMC's 20nm process.

Oddly, its main rival for this contract was Chipzilla. A rumour started by a Northland Capital Markets analyst claimed that Intel had won part of the modem business in the next-generation iPhones.

Chipzilla will be slightly miffed that it will not be under the bonnet of the 2016 iPhones, however Digitimes thinks that it is well placed to steal the contract next year.

Intel's modem chips are also built by TSMC, using the foundry's 28nm process technology.