We may see an Apple-developed 5G modem sooner than anticipated

This year’s iPhone 15 will be the last model with a Qualcomm 5G chip, Qualcomm CEO and President Cristiano Amon told The Wall Street Journal.

“[We] expect that Apple will do their own modem in 2024, but if they need ours they know where to find us,” he said.

Apple currently uses Qualcomm modems. However, the tech giant Intel’s smartphone modem business in July 2019 and added 2,200 Intel engineers to its chipset operations globally. 

“Apple’s acquisition of Intel’s 5G modem business will not only allow the iPhone manufacturer to gain world-class expertise in cellular modems, which is one of the most challenging areas in R&D, but also allow it to strike better deals with other major 5G patent holders,” said Dimitris Mavrakis, research director at tech market advisory firm, ABI Research in March 2021. “Apple will also potentially be able to negotiate better terms with its current 5G suppliers as well as integrate parts of the 5G modem into its existing processors.