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Apple's 5G modem chip occupied half an iPhone so it had to run back to Qualcomm

Published: Sep 21, 2023, 7:43 AM

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Apple's 5G modem chip occupied half an iPhone so it had to run back to Qualcomm

Despite all the rumors that Apple is working on a 5G cellular modem of its own and that it could make a cameo in the iPhone 16 or even the iPhone 15 series, the team from Cupertino suddenly announced a renewal of its modem supply contract with Qualcomm. What gives?

Well, it turns out that despite all of its experience making top-shelf A-series chipsets for iPhones, iPads, and even Macs, Apple can't resolve all of the complexities of a power-sipping 5G modem with all of the various frequencies and interference filters that have to be in there and certified by carriers around the globe.

The chip Apple actually made after a couple of years of engineering efforts was so big that it could occupy half of the internal space in an iPhone, reports the Wall Street Journal, so it had to resort to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X-series modem in the iPhone 15 yet again.

After poaching Qualcomm and Intel employees and embarking on the modem project codenamed Sinope, it took Apple a while to realize what a challenge that would be. When it tested the first prototype late last year, it found that the modem "was too slow and prone to overheating." Not only that, but "its circuit board was so big it would take up half an iPhone," says the report.

Apple executives who didn’t have experience with wireless chips set tight timelines that weren’t realistic, former project engineers said. Teams had to build prototype versions of the chips and certify they would work with the many wireless carriers worldwide, a time-consuming job.

In short, anything that Apple would have put out as a modem of its own making would be unwieldy to put in an iPhone and at the same time three years behind Qualcomm in terms of performance and power draw.

That's why Apple apparently decided to throw in the towel for now, and renew its contract with Qualcomm which sees it pay the modem maker north of $7 billion a year for the wisdom to use the globe's most advanced 5G modem. According to one industry insider, "Apple isn’t going to give up" because "they hate Qualcomm’s living guts" after all of the royalties and licensing lawsuits it brawled over with them.

Otherwise it could've risked that its iPhones fall behind in download speeds and other perks that 5G networks bring, like when it went with Intel and took its time to introduce the first 5G iPhone years after the competition. Moreover, Apple's iPhone fans are accustomed to have them sold unlocked with support for a record number of network bands that only Qualcomm's Snapdragon modem family can ensure for now.

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.