In a post on X (formerly Twitter), analyst Ming Chi-Kuo says Apple is accelerating its move away from reliance on Qualcomm.
He says that, in 2025, two new iPhone models will ditch Qualcomm’s 5G chips and adopt Apple’s in-house 5G chips: the iPhone SE4 (1Q25) and the ultra-slim iPhone 17 (3Q25).
The Sellers Research Group is a little dubious. All iPhones currently sold by Apple are equipped with Qualcomm modems for cellular connectivity. And earlier this year, Apple extended its 5G modem agreement with Qualcomm through 2026.
Apple has been rumored to be working on its own 5G modem for at least three years, but the plans keep getting delayed. I think it will happen — after all Apple acquired Intel’s smartphone modem business in July 2019 and added 2,200 Intel engineers to its chipset operations globally — but I don’t see an Apple 5G modem arriving before 2027. However, I’d be glad to be proven wrong.
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