Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon in an interview with The Wall Street Journal‘s Joanna Stern at the MWC 2023 conference today said that Apple’s much-rumored 5G chip could be ready next year.
“We expect that Apple will do their own modem in 2024, but if they need ours they know where to find us,” said Amon.
His comment was shared by tech analyst Carolina Milanesi.
Qualcomm currently supplies all of Apple’s 5G modems. including modems for the entire iPhone 14 lineup. However, Apple is reportedly been working on its own in-house 5G chip. As mentioned by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman last month, Apple is planning to use its 5G modem in just one device initially, possibly in at least one iPhone 16 model. The Cupertino firm plans to fully phase out Qualcomm’s modems over three years following the use in the single device.
It’s also possible that Apple could first use the 5G chip in an iPad, as the device is a much lower-volume product. Ideally, the in-house 5G chip will perform competitively with Qualcomm’s chips. The switch to an in-house design will almost certainly lead to reduced production costs for Apple over time.
All iPhone 15 models are expected to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X70 modem, which will provide improved cellular speeds and power efficiency compared to the Snapdragon X65 currently used in all iPhone 14 models.
In related news, Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today tweeted that it is still undetermined if iPhone 16 models will be equipped with Apple’s 5G chip. Kuo said Apple will first need to overcome technical obstacles related to mmWave and satellite communications.
(Via MacRumors)