While several reports have already told us, Since 2020 Apple has started making its own 5G Modem with the team and infrastructure it has acquired from the Intel’s Smartphone Modem business back in 2019. Now, one of the Apple analysts Ming-Chi-Kuo has said, he expects the technology giant may introduce its own designed 5G Modem with its 2023 iPhone models.
Well, Ming-Chi-Kuo is not the first one who believes Apple designed 5G Modem will be installed in the coming iPhone models, Mark Sullivan from Fast Company and Mark Gurman from Bloomberg have also reported the same in the past.
Currently, Qualcomm is fulfilling Apple’s need for 5G modem as we can see the latest iPhone 12 models are using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 modem.
Back in January 2017, a lawsuit began in between Apple and Qualcomm where Apple said Qualcomm is charging high fees for some of its patents as it is a dominant supplier of Smartphone modems. The majority of Qualcomm profits, on the other hand, is coming from patent licensing. After fighting for two years, In 2019, both the company dropped all the lawsuits they made on each other and signed a six-year global patent licensing agreement.
The same licensing agreement enabled the Cupertino giant to introduce Snapdragon X60 modem in its 2021 iPhone models and Snapdragon X65 Modem in its 2022 iPhone models. Some reports sayd, the 2023 iPhone models may introduce Snapdragon X70 Modem but it looks difficult now.
If Apple introduces its own designed 5G Modem in its 2023 iPhone models then TSMC might be the one to design it. TSMC has already designed Apple’s M1 Chip for MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro.
