Apple has reportedly moved its iPhone modem chip development in-house. Reuters reports Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, took over the company’s modem design efforts in January.
Modems are an indispensable part of phones and other mobile devices, connecting them to wireless data networks. Apple once used Qualcomm Inc chips exclusively but began phasing in Intel Corp chips in 2016 and dropped Qualcomm from iPhones released last year.
Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, took over the company’s modem design efforts in January, the sources said. The organizational move has not been previously reported.
Srouji joined Apple in 2008 to lead chip design, including the custom A-series processors that power iPhones and iPads and a special Bluetooth chip that helps those devices pair with its AirPods wireless headphones and other Apple accessories.
When Reuters contacted Apple for comment, they declined. The report jibes with a previous one by The information, which said Apple was working on its own modem chip.
Apple has posted job listings looking for modem engineers in the San Diego area, which is home base for Apple’s former modem maker, Qualcomm.
Don’t expect to see Apple-made iPhone modems any time soon though, as designing and manufacturing modem chips can take years.
“When you’re Apple, everything has to be good,” said Linley Gwennap, president of chip industry research firm The Linley Group told Reuters. “There’s no room for some substandard component in that phone.”
