Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's In-House 5G Modem Work Faces Further Delays
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
they've been invented years ago.
Not surprised the furry knows. Like every other furry that apparently works in IT.
Well, consider the fact Qualcomm has made modems for years whereas Apple is trying to create their first and make it rival the competition. Take Apple Silicon as an example. Apple has made their own chips for over a decade, so designing one for a Mac with ARM architecture wasn’t the greatest challenge. How well M1 performed was also revolutionary and evident of that.
Furthermore, this new modem needs to be designed with the Apple ecosystem in mind. Requiring more optimization for iOS to provide the best perform.
Qualcomm's AI modem chips give the iPhone 14 and 15 great signal quality and the leap I have heard between iPhone 14 and 15 is big in terms of grabbing a signal and utilizing it at high speed. Qualcomm hold all the patent cards here, this is one project I wish Apple would let go and throw the money at bugs in macOS and all the other OS's instead of stretching its workforce thin. Hell throw the money at the CPU guys anything but a modem they can afford.
It does not need iOS optimisation its a modem, it works in any OS and with AI tech works really well. Not everything needs the apple ecosystem in mind or iOS especially modems which connects it out of that eco system too.
Then I was wrong. But who knows what Apple will try and do to really separate it from Qualcomm’s. Optimization can still potentially be one for better efficiency, but by optimization this time, I do not mean for iOS. More of an architectural advantage like Apple Silicon already has. But overall, just another reason why to purchase an Apple device over others. Which is basically Apple’s objective here…. and still sell products at the same price whilst cutting costs with this new modem. 😑
There are not only wasting time, but right now we are paying for both Qualcomm chip usage and Apple chip R&D. The worst of both worlds.
It’s not competition at all. Apple sees relying on Qualcomm in much the same way it saw with Intel, as an impediment to complete control of hardware and software. Apple has to wait on Qualcomm for modem improvements and availability just like it had to wait for Intel for CPUs. And Apple has to make design and functional decisions based on third party hardware features. If they can produce their own modem they can optimize it for their hardware just like they have with Apple Silicon.
WiFi poor throughput and always dropping. I know fix is in 17.2, but if Apple can't even get WiFi right who in their right mind would trust Apple 5g modems.
I had a funny thought just now. Whenever any firm enters an Apple dominated field, people come out of the woodwork saying “more competition is a good thing”, yet they say “we should let Qualcomm have a monopoly on cell phone modems” (or worse, “let’s use Huawei instead!*”)
* I can’t rule out the possibility of the Huawei cheerleaders being bots or people paid to disseminate Chinese disinformation. But that’s a topic for a different forum on here.
I will add that Stickies never remember their monitor and position. After every reboot, they just pop back to the 1st monitor and have to be manually repositioned. It's a bug that has persisted for years.
I don't see the issue with that. Selling modems to other customers would help pay for the purchase of Qualcomm to begin with.
Nope. That wouldn't pass the FTC or any other regulating body.
That would create a pure monopoly for ARM chips for mobile use. They would control nearly the entire Android ecosphere for modem and processors.
No. it's not the radio portion that is so difficult. It absolutely is the digital portion. You can't get around the patented algorithms (Trellis and Virterbi).
Virterbi is so fundamental that is has made both Qualcomm and Mr Virterbi billions of dollars. USC school of engineering is named the USC Virterbi School of Engineering.
So it's hard and Qualcomm was founded on those algorithms.
Apple is literally the only company that is constantly judged and hounded about unannounced products and initiatives based solely on rumors. Their policy is to announce things when they are ready to be released, unless they need more 3rd party developers involved early. Fortunately, with the exception of the charging pad, they ignore leaks and rumors and just follow their own policies.
They (Virterbi founder of Qualcomm and Qualcomm) invented and productized the algorithm that made cellular technology even possible.
Now you say they shouldn't control it?
The cost is administered under FRAND. Qualcomm publishes their prices.
Apple relies on a crapload of companies to make their product.
Apple doesn't make anything themselves. If TSMC all of a sudden gets destroyed, so is Apple.
I was cleaning my garage a few months back and came across my US Robotics Courier MODEM from probably 20 years ago. Brought back memories for sure.