Several reports indicated that Apple would be developing its own custom 5G modems for their future iPhone models. This would make sense as any component that Apple custom designs is better optimized for both the hardware and software. Apple even currently develops its own silicon to drive all of its latest products, including Macs with the M-series chips.
However, you might not want to get your hopes up because “yeux1122” from the Naver blog has indicated that Apple could cancel the development of its 5G modem chips. According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple has been facing difficulties in developing a 5G modem that can replace the existing Qualcomm’s 5G modems used in today’s iPhones, and those issues could indicate that the company’s goals were too ambitious given several unworkable prototypes.
Apple first brought 5G technology to its iPhones in October 2020 with the iPhone 12 series and to its iPads in April 2021 with the iPad Pro (M1). Back in May of this year, Apple announced that it acquired Broadcom for a multibillion-dollar deal to further invest in 5G radio technology.
While we don’t know for sure whether Apple will be able to develop its own in-class modem technology, it would surely help the company to be more independent when designing its own components similar to how Apple moved away from Intel to its own SoCs for the Mac lineup.
