The A14 uses an external Qualcomm radio, much like Android phones based on the previous Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. Take a look at the yellow and green boxed SDR86

The A14 uses an external Qualcomm radio, much like Android phones based on the previous Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. Take a look at the yellow and green boxed SDR865 and SDX55M in this image of the iPhone 12 with A14 motherboard from the iFixit teardown: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+12+and+12+Pro+Teardown/137669#s274767 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+12+and+12+Pro+Teardow... The same are in yellow and red on the Samsung Galaxy S20 with Snapdragon 865 teardown: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S20+Ultra+Teardown/131607#s259200 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S20+Ultra+Tea... The SDR865 and SDX55M are the external 5G parts that would disappear with the 888. Compare the PCB area used for those (they're both almost as large as the whole SOC; I'm sure much of that is driven not by silicon area or thermal requirements but by a lot of power and pins for high-speed host communication) to this teardown of the Galaxy S10, which has the Snapdragon 855 with an integrated 4G modem: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S10+and+S10e+Teardown/120331#s232018 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S10+and+S10e+... Apple has said they want to integrate the 5G modem by 2022.