‘Apple is now building its own 5G modem chips’

Apple has begun to develop its own 5G modem. Bloomberg reports this based on sources within Apple. Now the iPhone 12 (Pro) uses a 5G chip from Qualcomm, but Apple wants to become less dependent on modem suppliers.

Apple development 5G modem

The news certainly does not come out of the blue. Since 2019 there have been rumors that Apple wants to develop its own modem chips. In that year, Apple took over the entire modem division from Intel. It brought together the team of ingenuity responsible for Apple’s first cellular modem for $ 1 billion.

Now Apple has finally really started developing its first cellular modem chip, Bloomberg said. The website learned from insiders that Johny Srouji, who heads the development of the modem at Apple, announced this during an internal meeting yesterday.

“This year we started developing our first cellular modem that will enable a new strategic transition,” he said. “Strategic investments like this are crucial for a future with innovative technologies.”

Less dependent

A cellular modem is one of the most important parts of the iPhone, enabling phone calls and connection to the Internet via cellular networks. By making the modems itself, Apple wants to become less dependent on suppliers. In addition, this should reduce production costs, as Apple now has to pay licensing fees to Qualcomm.

Srouji did not say when the first iPhone with Apple’s modem is planned. That seems to take a while. According to Bloomberg, Apple entered into a six-year license agreement with Qualcomm in 2019. This may mean that the first iPhone with Apple’s 5G modem will appear at the earliest in 2025.

In the meeting, Srouji also revealed something about the other chips that Apple makes. Apple is working on a “family” of Mac chips, he said. They must be better than Intel’s fastest computer chips.