In the last few years, we have seen Apple taking a majority of control over the development and design of its chips across products. The company has already designed its own A-series Bionic chips for iPhones and iPads. In 2020, Apple also brought its in-house M1 chip for Macs and started shifting from Intel. In the coming future, Apple is reportedly planning to ditch Qualcomm as well for the 5G modems on its mobile chips. As per a story from the Wall Street Journal, Apple might be bringing its own 5G modems on A-series chipsets starting in 2023. The company has even given a lot of hints about the same.
Hints Which Suggest that Apple is Bringing Its Own 5G Modem for Mobile Chips
Apple is planning to launch a proprietary 5G modem. The same is hinted at by the company’s move to acquire Intel’s smartphone-modem business in 2019, along with 2,200 employees. Further, in San Diego, which is Qualcomm’s hometown, Apple is advertising that there are around 140 positions available which are directly related to developing and integrating cellar modem chips. Further, in 2021, Qualcomm’s CFO had said that by 2023, Qualcomm is only expected to supply 20% of the 5G modems that Apple uses on its iPhones compared to the 100% now. These developments hint toward a future where Apple will bring a proprietary 5G modem for its chips. This might be a good thing for the consumers as the way Apple designs things; the focus is always on keeping the efficiency up. This will also give Apple better control over the overall cost of developing and getting the chip manufactured. It will pave a fresh path for Apple, but there are unseen challenges as well. Apple could also struggle with designing and manufacturing, and testing a new wireless modem since it takes quite a bit of time to do so.
