Qualcomm will continue to supply the 5G modem chips used in Apple’s 2023 iPhone 15 lineup. Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman says Qualcomm will provide the “vast majority” of modem chips for Apple’s handsets, even though many had expected that it would provide just a fraction of modem chips.
Qualcomm in November 2021 had said that it was expecting to only provide about 20% of the 5G modem parts for the new iPhones in 2023. It was expected that Apple would be producing its own 5G modem chips by then. Apple has been working to ease its reliance on Qualcomm for 5G modems by developing its own in-house solution. However, it doesn’t appear Apple’s solution will be ready for the 2023 iPhone lineup.
Gurman’s report jibes with a tweet from Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who in June 2022 said that Apple’s 5G modem chip development “may have failed.” Kup said Qualcomm would remain Apple’s 5G modem provider for the 2023 iPhone lineup.
Apple’s development of its own 5G modem, which reportedly kicked off in early 2020, has been widely reported.
Apple in July 2019 purchased the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business. The transaction was valued at $1 billion Apple said at the time that the purchase will “help expedite our development on future products and allow Apple to further differentiate moving forward.”
