Apple's Rumored 5G Modem for iPhones Has Suppliers Competing for Orders

[MacRumors]

Apple's rumored 5G modem project has multiple suppliers interested in assisting with final assembly of the chip, according to a new report.

While the custom-designed modem will likely be manufactured by Apple's chipmaking partner TSMC, the final packaging stage may be handled by other suppliers. Taiwanese supply chain publication DigiTimes today reported that ASE Technology and Amkor Technology are "competing" to package the modem chips. The two companies already have experience packaging Qualcomm's modem chips, the report states.

Qualcomm is currently the exclusive supplier of 5G modems for Apple devices, including the entire iPhone 14 lineup, but Apple has long been rumored to be designing its own 5G chip as an in-house replacement. Last month, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said he expected Apple's 5G modem to be ready in 2024, but Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that it could take up to three years for Apple to fully transition away from Qualcomm.

The first device expected to be equipped with Apple's custom 5G modem is the fourth-generation iPhone SE, which will likely be released around March 2024. It's unclear how Apple's chip would perform compared to Qualcomm's modems, but the switch to an in-house design would likely reduce Apple's production costs over time.

In the meantime, all iPhone 15 models are expected to be equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X70 modem, which has further cellular speed and power efficiency improvements compared to the Snapdragon X65 in all iPhone 14 models.

Article Link: Apple's Rumored 5G Modem for iPhones Has Suppliers Competing for Orders

 

[dannyyankou]

Well of course, Apple likes to diversify its suppliers. There will probably be 2-3 companies packaging these things.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Maybe they're learning from all of the China/Covid BS to use multiple suppliers in multiple places.

 

[FloridaScrubJay]

I will pause my purchase on the first generation Apple modem iPhones until they are proven to be as good or better than Qualcomm’s current modems.

 

[oofio2461]

Hope it's not a China Supplier...

 

[Eric_WVGG]

I'm still waiting for an explanation of why making a cellular modem is so freaking difficult. I thought they'd have their own modem back when the A6 was a thing…

 

[name99]

Gee I'm old enough to remember as long back as two months ago when the conventional wisdom on this forum was that the Apple modem was doomed, Doomed, DOOMED, and that no-one anywhere ever could possibly compete with QC...

 

[name99]

.

 

[name99]

I'm still waiting for an explanation of why making a cellular modem is so freaking difficult. I thought they'd have their own modem back when the A6 was a thing…

It's difficult in the sense that doing ANYTHING at world class level is difficult (by definition, otherwise it wouldn't be world-class level!)
The problem with the internet is that people have no sense of perspective, alternating between assuming difficult things can be done in three days and assuming that difficult things are impossible.

 

[asdfjkl;]

I'll skip any device with the first gen Apple modem and wait to confirm that it's reliable. Cell modems are hard and I won't be surprised if the first gen (first several, even) are subpar.

 

[Sasparilla]

Interesting to see, prior rumors seemed to be indicating this was getting pushed off. iPhone 15 is safe, but I’d avoid gneration one of whatever device this lands in…these things appear to be very difficult to nail down….thinking back to the 4G modem they did with Intel.

 

[NMBob]

Can things like this be made with a "3nm" process, or do they have to be bigger for physics-type reasons being transmitters and all?

 

[Eric_WVGG]

It's difficult in the sense that doing ANYTHING at world class level is difficult (by definition, otherwise it wouldn't be world-class level!)
The problem with the internet is that people have no sense of perspective, alternating between assuming difficult things can be done in three days and assuming that difficult things are impossible.

I don't understand your comment at all. I'm an engineer and am curious about the technical explanation. Are you in the field? Is it something to do with antennas?

 

[munpip214]

How many billions of dollars would Apple be willing to spend to pretend to make the modem just to keep Qualcomm costs down?

 

[munpip214]

I'm still waiting for an explanation of why making a cellular modem is so freaking difficult. I thought they'd have their own modem back when the A6 was a thing…

It’s not just 5G, they also have to support 4G and all of its derivatives. Thousands of carriers throughout the world is with different protocols plus all the different channels and getting it super fast with low power consumption. If there was one standard for 5G and 4G it would probably be easy.

 

[257Loner]

Which other company does Apple need to kick off their supplier list after they replace Qualcomm's modems with their own?

 

[Klagarde]

I'm still waiting for an explanation of why making a cellular modem is so freaking difficult. I thought they'd have their own modem back when the A6 was a thing…

Designing High performance cellular chips that are also powerefficient is very difficult, on top of that you have to deal with a minefield of patents preventing you to make a chip. So you have to invent new ways to do the same.

 

[HiVolt]

I will pause my purchase on the first generation Apple modem iPhones until they are proven to be as good or better than Qualcomm’s current modems.

Absolutely, because if you recall, Apple bought Intel's modem technology and the associated intellectual property.

Intel's modems weren't exactly great.

How much is Apple able to improve over that, remains to be seen, without infringing on Qualcomm's patents. I'm sensing a new legal patent war between Apple & Qualcomm.

 

[mannyvel]

Which would you rather have, a few hundred K/sec less throughput or better battery life? Because I'm pretty sure Apple's modems will have the latter.

At least Apple can remove support for EDGE, CDMA, GSM, and maybe 3G. That'll make the modem a bit simpler.

 

[Wags]

Will see how this goes. Starting with SE better than before.

 

[txscott]

As stated in several posts above, the most difficult issues are likely a combination of complying with the vast number of existing standards and avoiding patent issues while producing a world class product.

 

[Asbow]

Which would you rather have, a few hundred K/sec less throughput or better battery life? Because I'm pretty sure Apple's modems will have the latter.

At least Apple can remove support for EDGE, CDMA, GSM, and maybe 3G. That'll make the modem a bit simpler.

Modems aren’t really like CPUs. You can’t just cut out the bits you don’t like. There are areas of the UK which drop to drop to 3G and sometimes even 2G.

 

[StudioMacs]

Which other company does Apple need to kick off their supplier list after they replace Qualcomm's modems with their own?

A recent report stated Apple and Samsung (as a display supplier) have a combative relationship, and Apple is said to be designing their own display technology.

 

[citysnaps]

I don't understand your comment at all. I'm an engineer and am curious about the technical explanation. Are you in the field? Is it something to do with antennas?

Modern digital communications (including error correction and other sub-topics that make up the field), where fractions of a dB in performance count in the market, is kind of off the beaten path with respect to most kinds of electrical engineering. That's been Qualcomm's bread and butter going back to when the company was founded by Andrew Viterbi and Irwin Jacobs back in the mid '80s. They've pretty much written the book on the subject and have 100,000+ granted patents to protect their research and resulting IP. Thus, it's far from a slam dunk that any company would be able to come in and compete. I was pretty skeptical if Apple could pull that off (should the IP not be licensable). We'll see. If Apple does it will be quite a feat.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

Apple won’t release any component that is not superior to what’s available. It’s the Apple Way.