The launch of the Apple silicon showed that the bitten apple company was on track to limit dependence on certain suppliers, but there are components where the result has been less than satisfactory. Although Apple has been trying for years to develop its own 5G modems to replace Qualcomm’s offering, the results have not been positive.
While reports on the situation suggested that Apple’s 5G modems would launch in 2025, an update shared from Bloomberg has dismissed the possibility of Apple’s 5G modems debuting with the iPhone 17.
Apple fails to stand on its own
The report describes Apple’s 5G modem project as a “frustrating journey” for the company’s engineers and executives. While previous reports have revealed that Apple’s chips have suffered from overheating.
As the Apple silicon strategy was realised the same would be realised for Apple’s modems. Cupertino acquired Intel’s billion-dollar modem business with 2,200 employees and more than 17,000 patents. Even so, Apple’s expertise has not proved to be enough. The chip was planned to be launched in the iPhone 15 series and according to the latest data it will not succeed the iPhone 16 either.
In fact, days before the launch of the iPhone 15 in September, Qualcomm announced that it had extended its agreement with Apple until at least 2026, two years longer than the two companies had previously agreed. This will give Apple another three years to either finish the design of its first 5G modem or extend its agreement with Qualcomm once more.
Apple’s progress on its own processors raises questions about the limitations in making a radio chip like Qualcomm’s. A former Qualcomm executive stated that it is incredible that Apple did not anticipate the complexity of the chip development effort.
In addition to being self-sufficient, the radio chip must support all the variations in use by different operators around the world. In addition to the 5G network, the previous ones (from 2G to 4G) must also be considered. Apple executives failed to meet the tight deadlines they had set for themselves. They lacked the time to build the prototypes and make sure they worked.