Apple has ditched Intel CPU in favor of their in-house Apple M1 chip in their latest Mac lineup. Now according to reports Apple doing the same for Qualcomm 5G modem in the iPhones. According to a report by Macrumors, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in an investor’s note that Apple plans to adopt its own custom-designed 5G baseband chip starting with the 2023 iPhones.
“We predict that the iPhone will adopt Apple’s own design 5G baseband chips in 2023 at the earliest. As Android sales in the high-end 5G phone market are sluggish, Qualcomm will be forced to compete for more orders in the low-end market to compensate for Apple’s order loss. When the supply constraints improve, MediaTek and Qualcomm will have less bargaining power over brands, resulting in significantly higher competitive pressure in the mid to low-end market,” Kuo said.
Currently, Apple relies on Qualcomm to supply 5G modems for its iPhones. But even if Apple creates its own modem by 2023, Apple can’t ditch Qualcomm completely. Back in 2019 when Qualcomm drop the lawsuit against Apple, both signed a multi-year agreement. According to one document, some Apple products launching between June 1, 2022, and May 31, 2024, will use either the Snapdragon X65 or the Snapdragon X70.
Back in 2018 Apple stop using the Intel modem. As a result, Intel’s cellular modem division went out of business. Later Apple brought Intel’s whole cellular modem division for $1 billion. At that time Apple said that the purchase will “help expedite our development on future products and allow Apple to further differentiate moving forward.” If everything goes according to plan we could see Apple iPhone 15 with Apple’s own 5G modem.