The stakes are high as Apple hopes to replace Qualcomm's 5G iPhone modem

The stakes are high as Apple hopes to replace Qualcomm’s 5G iPhone modem،

The 5G era is still relatively new and even those with 5G-enabled phones still can’t connect to the fastest 5G signals due to the short distances traveled by high-band waves (mmWave). As a result, the fastest 5G experience most consumers experience is the fast, but not the fastest, connection to carriers’ mid-band signals. While no one is complaining, some of the amazing things we’ve come to expect from 5G, like autonomous vehicles and remote operations, aren’t yet available to the general public.

Even though the 5G era is still several years away, Apple is considering 6G. According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, writing in the latest edition of his weekly To light up In its newsletter, Apple posted a job posting on the company’s website that says: “As a Cellular Platform Architect, you will lead and coordinate the design and modeling of a 6G reference architecture. » But as Gurman writes, the 5G era is expected to extend through 2030. So don’t start throwing away those 5G-enabled phones, because there’s a long way to go before you start constantly talking about 6G.

What we can still often talk about is Apple’s attempt to stop relying on Qualcomm by developing its own 5G modem for the iPhone. In September, Apple renewed its expiring contract with Qualcomm and the latter will continue to supply Apple with 5G modems until 2026. Apple had hoped to have its own 5G modem working in at least the Pro versions of its smartphone line this year, but he did it. could not complete the development of this key component.

Apple’s iPhone 15 series features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X70 5G modem

Gurman raises some positive points about Apple’s attempt to build its own 5G modem chip, some of which we have voiced ourselves. One of them, of course, is Apple’s desire to end its reliance on Qualcomm, given that there have been several legal issues between the companies over the years, including accusations of patent infringement and much more. Apple has a lot to do on this given the important role the modem plays on the iPhone.

Apple hopes that in addition to ending its reliance on Qualcomm for this key part of the iPhone, designing and building its own modem would allow the company to develop special technology and features developed for the iPhone. This would also save Apple money since it wouldn’t need to pay Qualcomm both its licensing fees and the price of the chips (remember the “no license, no chips” policy » from Qualcomm).

And as Gurman points out, unlike Apple’s A- and M-series chips, the 5G modem isn’t expected to give the iPhone a huge performance boost. Apple needs to be extremely careful here, because a poorly performing modem could be the biggest stain on Apple CEO Tim Cook’s impressive track record as CEO. And that could leave the iPhone with a bad reputation in an area where the phone currently excels.