In a series of Tweets published earlier today, veteran Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has claimed that Apple’s efforts to develop its own 5G modem chips in time for the 2023 ‘iPhone 15’ lineup may have ‘failed.’
With reports suggesting that Apple was on track to develop an in-house modem for its 2023 iPhones, Qualcomm was expected to lose almost 80% of its Apple business by 2023.
But now, Kuo notes that Qualcomm will remain the exclusive supplier of 5G chips for the iPhones at least through next year.
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[Company Update] Qualcomm (QCOM.O)My latest survey indicates that Apple’s own iPhone 5G modem chip development may have failed, so Qualcomm will remain exclusive supplier for 5G chips of 2H23 new iPhones, with a 100% supply share (vs. company’s previous estimate of 20%).
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo)
Kuo also noted that Qualcomm’s revenue and EPS in 2H23-1H24 will likely beat market consensus “thanks to its sole supplier position for 5G chips of 2H23 new iPhones.”
“I believe Apple will continue to develop its own 5G chips, but by the time Apple succeeds and can replace Qualcomm, Qualcomm’s other new businesses should have grown enough to significantly offset the negative impacts caused by the order loss of iPhone 5G chips.”
Apple’s eventual goal, however, is still to develop a custom-designed 5G modem for its iOS devices.
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Watch them include these into 2023-2024 Cellular ready MacBooks or iPads.
May have failed the iPhone project, but could totally see them jamming into other products to boost cost and get their money out of the project one way or another. At least, I would think?
would be it be better then chips you can buy? i dont think so.
apples urg to make things their own is weird to me.
I understand the processor. 100% makes sense.
router was a fail, but worked flawlessly
yo make a slim battery that last 2 weeks and youll own the world
but modem chips that most likely wont work with starlink, nah. its a waste unless its the new 6G
Their own modem they could integrate into the SoC (rumours is second generation will be integrated in Ax SoC) , instead of having a separate component, could be a big win. Not just in terms of cost for Apple, but also fewer components taking up space and lower power usage helping you with that battery life.
They’re certainly following the standards process and have a roadmap for next generation tech.
I’d say the problem is that the goal post year by year is getting further and further away.
Qualcomm has a working platform and is constantly improving it, adding more bands and other features.
Every year Apple doesn’t release a competitive baseband modem, is another year they need to spend adding the features to stay competitive.
I wonder if they’ll start by using both chips, but able to use to same antenna array. The idea being to be able to take advantage of what you would get out of having a chip integrated into the SOC with better battery life, especially in low power mode, but then powering on a Qualcomm chip for when in active use.
I donno, I’m just speculating based on nothing really.