Apple spent $1 billion to purchase most of Intel’s smartphone modem business
Apple originally asked Intel to make a 5G modem chip for the iPhone to avoid dealing with Qualcomm
While Apple has been using Qualcomm’s 5G modem chips on all iPhone units starting with 2020’s iPhone 12 series, behind the scenes it has been working on designing its own component. And Apple had originally hoped to equip 80% of next year’s iPhone 15 line with its in-house 5G modem chip leaving Qualcomm to supply the remaining 20%. But there is one thing about the San Diego-based chip designer that you should understand; when it comes to generating revenue from silicon, no one is better.
The Snapdragon X70 5G modem is expected to be employed by next year’s iPhone 15 models and will deliver download data speeds as fast as 10Gbps. It also will use AI to improve coverage, increase the quality of the signals it receives, reduce latency, and also deliver 60% more energy efficiency.
Apple could continue using Qualcomm’s 5G modem until 2025 at the earliest
So when will Apple start using its own 5G modem chips? In answering this question, the only answer we can give based on Pu’s note is that 2025 would be the first possible year that Apple uses its own 5G modem chips in the iPhone. It could actually be later than that, but most likely not any earlier. And surely you’re wondering why would Apple go through all of this trouble to design its own 5G modem when Qualcomm’s are widely considered to be the best in the mobile business.
