Apple Unveils 'C1' as First Custom Cellular Modem

[anshuvorty]

This is what I am excited about along with the iPhone 17 Air phone that most likely will have this C1 chip inside of it - only way Apple can produce a thin phone like that while having similar cellular connectivity options for users, IMHO.

 

[anshuvorty]

When that arrives, I'll bet it will be eSIM only option on Mac lineups. Not a bad thing, just my wild guess.

Dude - think about if this future were to come to fruition:

• We already know that Apple is working on releasing the next-gen MacBook Pros with OLED displays
• add to it the possibility that Apple removes the notch
• ...and then add the C1 cellular chip to it as well?!??!?!

If all 3 of these things were to pass in the next-gen MacBook Pro release???? I will be quickly trading in my M1 Pro MacBook Pro for it in a heartbeat!!!

 

[ghostface147]

Alright, start putting C1 through the paces.

 

[jz0309]

I wonder if / when we'll see this in cellular Apple Watches. Lord knows those need all the help they can get when it comes to efficiency.

Why do you need a 5G modem in a watch?

 

[jz0309]

it’s more power efficient but possibly also slower?

Slower compare to what??

 

[progx]

Here we go!! This is definitely making it's way to the Mac....I am sure of it!! Can't wait when it happens!!

Likely the MacBook Air and Pro, but I doubt it will in be this year or next, probably might be 2028 or 2029 if it does happen. Can’t see it coming to any of the desktops.

 

[anshuvorty]

Likely the MacBook Air and Pro, but I doubt it will in be this year or next, probably might be 2028 or 2029 if it does happen. Can’t see it coming to any of the desktops.

Makes no sense for the desktops, for sure.

 

[jido]

A lot of people don’t realise that the M chips are the same. Performance per Watt is excellent but raw performance has always been beaten by competitors. For most people it makes no difference and battery life is probably more useful and probably the same here.

Right, I never realised competitors shipped faster chips than Apple M series. I thought Apple was the single-threaded king, with very few exceptions…

 

[progx]

I’ll be checking out the review just for new cellular modem. If it functions the same, or better, I’d like to see it.

 

[Jdhommert]

I'm fully assuming when they roll this out in their normal/Pro phones it will have mmWave

I'm also glad for Apple to roll this ou tin this phone to work the bugs out before a brand new phone launch.

What's the latest on what's going in the 17/17 Pro, Apple or Qualcomm?

 

[TroyBoy30]

ill stick with the proven chips thank you

 

[jz0309]

Unlikely to happen. Apple has said they will pay for the few parts of the modem that use something close to Qualcomm technology. This means Apple will pay a lot lower licensing fee than now.

Source for this?

 

[jz0309]

ill stick with the proven chips thank you

So you’re still on an Intel chip Mac too?

 

[cdsapplefan]

A lot of people don’t realise that the M chips are the same. Performance per Watt is excellent but raw performance has always been beaten by competitors. For most people it makes no difference and battery life is probably more useful and probably the same here.

Yes the SE crowd don’t care about modem performance and will be more interested in the battery 🔋 life

 

[LogicalApex]

Because Gigabit cellular speeds with Qualcomm modem isn't fast enough for your phone? I have no idea what anyone needs faster than Gigabit over cellular for other than gloating. Keep in mind apart from Speedtests, real speed depends on BOTH ENDS supporting super-fast >Gigabit speeds.

Speed improvements are much more important on cellular than many initially think.

The faster the cellular connection then the faster things like images and other large assets download. For the end user that means the web page or app appears more responsive which is good, but for everyone else it means their phone is taking up less "airtime" than it otherwise would (taking up hypothetically 15 seconds versus 60 or 90 seconds or something). The less airtime a device occupies the less congested towers are and the better the entire network operates for everyone.

 

[Leggy Mambo]

The device it replaces didn’t have mag safe.

With that philosophy we'd never see any improvements

 

[courtma41]

Pretty smart to let the SE crowd beta test the new modem before jamming it into the flagship

 

[dss33k]

Love to see some competition in modem space. Well done!

 

[sziehr]

3......2.....1....... my connection is not as good as my old phone with this new modem

 

[Henk Poley]

I wonder if there are any stories of them beta testing this modem with older iPhone employee devices.

 

[Zerlina]

i wouldn't be surprised if apple adopts "C1 PRO" for the pro iPhones only time will tell

 

[SactoGuy18]

We shall see how it stacks up against Qualcomm modems.

Probably on par with the Snapdragon X70, but not the current Snapdragon X80 used on the Samsung Galaxy S25 models.

 

[hoodafoo]

wow, that chip is MASSIVE!!

 

[thefrost]

Probably on par with the Snapdragon X70, but not the current Snapdragon X80 used on the Samsung Galaxy S25 models.

It will definitely be interesting to see.

 

[ZipZilla]

mmwave is completely useless technology, so no great loss there