Oliver Haslam on November 18, 2021, 11:49 pm

Apple’s 5G Modems Reportedly Coming In 2023 But Won’t Be Part Of The A-Series Chip

Apple is now expected to release an iPhone with its own 5G modem as soon as 2023, with Qualcomm losing out. What’s more, Apple is now not expected to put the 5G modem inside the A-series chips that power iPhones.

Both reports come out of DigiTimes, with the outlet saying that its sources say that next year will be the last time that we see an iPhone launch with a Qualcomm modem inside.

As of 2023, TSMC — the company that produced Apple’s A-series chips — will be tasked with building custom modems based on Apple’s designs.

Apple’s switch to its own modems has been in the cards since it bought Intel’s modem business a couple of years ago and it was only a matter of time before Qualcomm was kicked out of the iPhone lineup.

However, Qualcomm recently said that it still expected to have a 20% presence in Apple hardware in 2023, suggesting that it could still be used for iPhones that are lower down the pecking order — leaving Apple’s modems for the new releases.

It’s also likely that Qualcomm modems will still be used in at least some iPads, although this is all guesswork right now. It’ll be interesting to see exactly what the transition away from Qualcomm will look like and whether Apple can bring the same performance and battery life efficiency of its A-series chips to the world of 5G modems.