Apple has included 5G capabilities in iPhones for a while now, but all this while, it has been using Qualcomm's 5G chips. There have been rumors about the company developing its own 5G modem, but it looks like we won't see it for at least one more iPhone release cycle.
A new report by DigiTimes says that Apple is still developing its own 5G modem, and we may see the upcoming iPhone 15 feature a Qualcomm 5G modem once again.
Apple places a substantial order for Qualcomm 5G modems with TSMC
TSMC is one of the biggest chipmakers in the world. The Taiwanese company makes chips for a lot of companies, including Apple and Qualcomm. The new report says that Apple has placed "substantial" orders with TSMC for RF chips to be used in its next-generation iPhone 15 models.
The report particularly focuses on TSMC's 6/7nm process nodes getting a rebound demand due to this order, which solidifies the possibility that they're Qualcomm's 5G modems. Apple's new modem will likely be on a newer, smaller process node, but we're unlikely to see it debut in 2023.
The iPhone 15 will likely come with the already announced Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 modem, a follow-up it the X65 modem found in the iPhone 14 series. This report actually aligns with a recent comment from analyst Jeff Pu, which said the iPhone 15 and likely iPhone 16 would both continue to feature Qualcomm's modem. It also solidifies Ming-Chi Quo's comments on the same. The analyst had said that Apple had failed to ready its own 5G modem in time for the iPhone 15.
So if you're planning on grabbing Apple's next best iPhone when it comes out, you can expect it to come with a Qualcomm 5G modem. Although that should work just fine, given the X70's improvements over its predecessor.
