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Kuo: iPhone SE 4 and Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Use Apple's Own 5G Chip

The RF performance of my iPhone 15 Pro Max is pathetic compared to OnePlus 11 at the same spot. iPhone has 3-5 dB lower signal strength all the time and both the phones use the same Qualcomm X70 modem. I dread to think what performance penalty Apple's 1st gen 5G modem will bring.
 
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huh, I thought Apple had pulled the plug on the modem development. Honestly it’s a better investment than the car was.
The key here is that they cannot release a dud. It needs to have decent to great performance, and come with a significant cost savings
 
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d5aqoëp said:
The RF performance of my iPhone 15 Pro Max is pathetic compared to OnePlus 11 at the same spot. iPhone has 3-5 dB lower signal strength all the time and both the phones use the same Qualcomm X70 modem. I dread to think what performance penalty Apple's 1st gen 5G modem will bring.
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How does it compare to your old phone? my iPhone 15 pro has much better connection vs the 14pro.
 
We know iPhones are not good in terms of connection and cellular, even with Qualcomm modem. But let’s see
 
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d5aqoëp said:
The RF performance of my iPhone 15 Pro Max is pathetic compared to OnePlus 11 at the same spot. iPhone has 3-5 dB lower signal strength all the time and both the phones use the same Qualcomm X70 modem. I dread to think what performance penalty Apple's 1st gen 5G modem will bring.
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Yup. iPhones was never good in Connectivity
 
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I wonder how power hungry these chips are? If Apple are pairing it with devices expected to be using the non-Pro CPU then it could be they need a weaker CPU to compensate for the modem’s higher power draw.
 
kerplunknet said:
Even more reason to not buy either of these phones. No one does modems better than Qualcomm.
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Let me correct that: no ones does patents better than Qualcomm

We basically get Intel modems back. I remember I had an iPhone XS (I think) with an Intel modem once. Didn't see a huge difference compared to my older iPhone 8.

These analysts get annoying. There were stories Apple had stopped their own modem project or were seriously thinking about it.
 
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Good to hear about this. With the new chip, maybe Apple could bring cellular connectivity to MacBooks.
 
With your own chip and stack you can optimize for different factors, like battery life or performance.

Apple has shown what you can do in that area with the A-series and W1 chips. Heck, you could make things faster by just not copying data everywhere, which is one of the ideas behind unified memory.

Abstraction comes with a cost, one that's increasingly hidden.

Heck, Apple could save battery by just doing better in low/no signal areas. That takes up a surprisingly large amount of battery according to battery health.
 
MacRumors said:
Schtibbie said:
Would not want to have one of those first-gen modems.. I don't see how they could be as polished as the current Qualcomms in use as far as marginal-signal handling, carrier aggregation, etc...
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Yeah, thanks but no thanks! This obsession of having to do everything in house is just a money drain for Apple and not necessarely good for end users,
 
Many posters are making comments on how the first generation of the modem is bound to have bugs and glitches, which of course it might. However, let's not forget how the M1 blew all expectations out of the water, both in terms of performance and battery usage, when compared with competing Intel chips.

A modem is both simpler (in size) but also more complicated (interacts with wider range of external equipment/protocols) than a CPU, so it has its own unique challenges, but if there is just a hint of a glimpse of a potential viable competitor to the monopolistic bloodsucking Qualcomm modems, it should be celebrated and supported!

(having said that, yes, sure, I'd wait to see some real-world benchmarks before I'd buy!)
 
My thoughts on this:
  • Apple wants to reduce how much profit goes to their vendors
  • Apple wants to optimize the modem in certain ways
  • Apple might even want to control the shape of the modem, for main board organization reasons. I doubt Qualcomm would accommodate this request.
  • The modem is not exactly a critical selling point, beyond supporting the latest bands. They must be doing something special with it to make it a talking point, like integrating/boosting UWB/Satellite connectivity or something (not sure if that makes sense).
Either it'll be:
  • better than Q, and Apple will gush about it.
  • not quite as good as Q, so Apple will shape the narrative very strongly to highlight its best traits, like the per-watt angle they have for M1.
 
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