Apple may have finally cracked the 5G modem code

The last time it tested a 5G modem against Qualcomm Snapdragon’s finest silicon, the chip occupied almost half of the phone and overheated significantly, so Apple signed a multiyear contract for Snapdragon modems and went back to the drawing board.

Apple apparently wouldn’t dare swap Qualcomm in its bread-and-butter iPhone versions, but the contract and for Snapdragon chips will be running out next year, so it will have to find a suitable replacement if it doesn’t want to pay north of $7 billion a year for the wisdom to use the globe’s most advanced 5G modem.

Otherwise, it could’ve risked that its iPhones fall behind in download speeds and other perks that 5G networks bring, like when it went with Intel and took its time to introduce the first 5G iPhone years after the competition. 

Moreover, Apple’s iPhone fans are accustomed to having them sold unlocked with support for a record number of network bands that only Qualcomm’s Snapdragon modem family can ensure for now.

When Apple made its first modem prototypes in 2022, they made the system board of the iPhone so big it would’ve taken half the space inside the handset. In addition, all the different bands and frequencies that global carriers operate on have to be tested, and this takes time. 

It has obviously made strides in the development of its own 5G modem handset, though adding it in an iPhone 17 Slim raises some eyebrows, as that would mean Apple has managed to create something competitive to the compact Snapdragons in just two years time.