Apple has been working for a long time at billions to produce its own radio technology. This supposedly applies to 5G as well as WLAN and Bluetooth.
The iPhone 14 Pro features Qualcomm 5G technology. (Image: Apple)
Apple wants to install its own radio chips in the iPhone by 2025 at the latest – and not just the baseband. By 2025, both the switch should move away from Qualcomm to its own 5G modem should take place, as well as its own combined WLAN and Bluetooth component in the iPhone. The latter would replace the Broadcom components that have been installed for many years, writes the financial news agency Bloomberg.
Qualcomm and Broadcom replaced in iPhone
According to the report, the new, proprietary 5G modem will be on the iPhone either in late 2024 or early 2025. This was originally planned for the iPhone 15 this year, but Apple didn’t get around to it due to development problems. Now everything seems to be moving towards the new schedule – although it still seems unclear which iPhone will be the first. The original plan, only the iPhone SE 4Apple is said to have given up.
Much of the new technology comes from Germany: near and in Munich, Apple has set up a large location with a development center for over a billion euros. This originally comes from Intel and before that from Infineon. With every year that Apple has to purchase mobile chips from the unloved supplier Qualcomm, the pressure on the development team in Munich is growing, it was said last year. The mobile chip specialist is currently still earning enormous sums with Apple – through the hardware itself, but also through patent fees.
Planned: All-in-one SoC
In the future, the iPhone manufacturer’s Apple silicon SoCs could contain processors, GPU cores, and memory as well as a 5G modem, Bluetooth, and WLAN – at least that’s the idea. This would leave more space on the circuit board and the radio technology could also migrate to the Mac for the first time – where you previously needed either a 5G stick or a WLAN hotspot nearby.
Apple’s move will disrupt the chip industry, which makes billions of dollars by supplying Apple components, Bloomberg believes. The world’s most valuable technology company already has the most processors from Intel Corp. banned from its Mac computers and uses in-house chips instead. Now the changes are also affecting the largest manufacturers of radio electronics.
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