Qualcomm revealed during its first earnings call of 2024 that Apple extended its modem chip licensing agreement with the company though March 2027. That means we’ll likely see Qualcomm modems in the next several genertions of iPhone.
The news shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. In the fall, Qualcomm said that Apple had extended an agreement to use its modems in phones launching in 2024, 2025 and 2026, sparking speculation that Apple’s efforts to build its own modem weren’t going well.
Apple has been working on its own modem since 2018. The company also acquired most of Intel’s smartphone modem business in 2019, but previous reporting detailed how the project has struggled. Notably, Apple has had battery life and overheating issues and, more recently, Bloomberg reported that Apple had to rewrite much of Intel’s modem code “from scratch.”
In November, somewhat dubious reports citing supply chain sources claimed Apple was winding down its modem project because of repeated failures and setbacks.
Apple had planned to launch its own modem chip in 2024 but missed that target. Then Apple had plans to introduce the modem chip in an iPhone SE model set to launch in 2025, but the company reportedly won’t make that goal either. Apple is apparently “years away” from making a modem chip capable of matching or beating Qualcomm’s chips, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
The premium iPhones set to release in 2024, likely dubbed the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, will reportedly include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X75 modem.
Source: MacRumors
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