Unconfirmed sources in Asia, including the production department, believe that Apple has abandoned the design and thus mass production of its own 5G modems, mainly for iPhones.
Two sources hear the same thing
X leaker @Tech_Reve, who was told the same thing by Japanese production staff, thinks the same thing. The rumor spread after Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman described in a number of reports that the company was still struggling to get the project off the ground, reportedly underestimating the complexity of the modem’s design with consequent poor performance in prototype models.
Reports indicate that Apple is slowly but surely wrapping up the long-running project that may have cost hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development.
In the future, Apple’s strategy is to create its own Bluetooth and WiFi technology And 5G modem, putting it all in the same chip for control, saving money (in the long run) and increasing the battery life of their products, especially the iPhone. But designing and manufacturing 5G chips is difficult. Qualcomm is best in class and owns the majority of the Android mobile phone and iPhone segment.
Itavesen, November 17, 2023
No modem in MacBooks?
On November 20, we wrote, among other things, that Apple’s plan is to implement its own modems into MacBooks, but could that happen now? If so, they’ll have to extend their deal with Qualcomm, a company they supposedly hate.
“Now what Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has revealed is that expanding the modem strategy is implementing proprietary modems in… MacBooks. Curiously, iPads can be purchased with eSIM support, but MacBooks have never had the option to always be online – instead, the user must ‘hotspot’ on their own mobile phone or use public WiFi networks, the latter being far from certain. “
We also reported on November 17 that the plan should have been to test the modem in the iPhone SE first, the lesser model:
“Apple’s goal was to ‘test’ its 5G chip in the iPhone SE, the lowest-profile model. The plan was to actually do that this year, but experts now don’t think the company will be able to do so until 2026. After the SE, The iPad and Watch will be equipped with a 5G chip before the main iPhone models launch equipped with an upgraded model – perhaps in 2027, perhaps in 2028? Right now, the product is referred to as being in the “early development phase.” This is for all those who know about the plans. “And it will probably take some time, just like the batteries they’re looking at.”
We’re not entirely sure that Apple has completely given up, but it’s possible that it has extended its time horizon and knows that it won’t be able to do this for many years.
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