Huawei unveiled the Mate X, awhile back at MWC 2019. This happens to be the first smartphone of the embattled company with 5G capabilities by the Balong 5000 platform. The Chinese company is currently on ready-mode to deliver its in-house chips to Apple.
This appears to be just speculation, owing to earlier valid reports of the platform to be used only on smart products which are part of Huawei portfolio, including phones and other IoT technology. However, Huawei stands open to this new deal probably because Apple(which runs iOS) is not a direct competitor to Android phones. Who's going to refuse Apple's mouthwatering deal anyway?
Apple could end up paying a lot of cash for Huawei's 5G modem, because the Cupertino company wouldn't want to be left behind in the 'Race to 5G' drag race on-going among high tech companies. Analysts are skeptical of the possibility of Intel providing XMM 8160 5G systems for any of the next two generations of iPhones, while Qualcomm and Samsung have completely left Apple out of their 5G technology plans.