Rumors about the possibility of Apple incorporating its own 5G chip in the iPhone (and therefore in other devices) have been around for a long time. However, the latest news from DigiTimes suggests that the next model, iPhone 15 will keep Qualcomm’s 5G chips.
Today’s report states that TSMC will be the main supplier of the Qualcomm 5G chip that will be used in the iPhone 15 series, using the 5nm and 4nm process. But be careful: these rumors are not incompatible with Apple continuing to work on its own 5G modem. In fact, everything continues to point to the fact that Apple is developing its own 5G modem which aims to replace Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 5G chips in the coming years.
Current iPhone 14s include the Snapdragon X65 modem, which helps improve 5G speeds and battery life through optimization. The iPhone 15 is rumored to include the X70 chip, more advanced, which incorporates artificial intelligence functions to offer faster average download and upload speeds, better coverage, better signal quality, lower latency and up to 60% more energy efficiency. Great news for the future battery of our iPhone.
Early reports and rumors initially suggested that Apple would make its move to proprietary 5G modems in 2023 iPhone models, but apparently, the latest news suggests that Apple had “failed” in the development of the chip and will continue to use Qualcomm modems in the near future. Understanding as a failure to develop a chip with the performance and capabilities expected or desired by those from Cupertino on time.
Perhaps this may be related to the new EU regulations by which Apple will have to incorporate USB-C as of 2024, thus still allowing a window for the iPhone 15 to carry Lightning and on which it would be interesting to maintain Qualcomm chips for prepare a completely renewed model (at least inside) in the future iPhone 16.