Despite last week’s claims to the contrary, Apple’s efforts to build its own iPhone modem are alive and well. In fact, a new report claims that even as the development of Apple’s 5G modem continues, the company is eyeing 6G cellular connectivity.
The details were pointed out in a weekly magazine column. Mark Garman of Bloomberg This points out some of the difficulties Apple encountered trying to develop its own modem. This column came a week after he published several poorly sourced reports claiming that Apple’s modem business was being shut down.
It’s true that we won’t be seeing Apple modems anytime soon. Apple’s current supplier, Qualcomm, has announced that it will supply iPhone modems through 2026, which will extend beyond next year’s iPhone 16 to the iPhone 18.
But Garman said Apple hopes it won’t have to rely on Qualcomm for more modems. “Apple is rushing to complete the modem so it doesn’t have to re-enter the deal to buy components from Qualcomm,” Garman wrote.
There are advantages to Apple manufacturing modems in-house. The main advantage is that it allows for higher quality control. Apple is known for its rigorous testing, and they don’t like and won’t release anything that doesn’t meet their standards to the fullest. Another reason is that it gives you better control over product releases. It also minimizes the potential risk of stock shortages.
Apart from confirmation that Apple’s modem efforts are not nearing an end, there is another interesting tidbit in the Bloomberg report. Apple is already working on the development of his 6G modem for his future iPhone.
What if it would be several years before iPhones shipped with Apple’s modems? 6G modems are even further away. The 6G standard is unlikely to be implemented until 2030.
6G, also known as 6th generation wireless, differs from the current 5G standard in several ways. The first concerns the amount of data that can be transferred per second. Currently, 5G can deliver speeds of up to 20 Gbps (gigabyte per second), while 6G is expected to reach up to 1 Tbps (terabyte per second). 6G is also expected to significantly reduce latency, resulting in near-instantaneous data transfers.
A report from Bloomberg suggests that past job postings posted by Apple have referenced 5G. And recently, There was another post Intended for “Modern Systems Software Architects” who “coordinate the design and modeling of 6G reference architectures.”
Again, it’s unlikely we’ll see a 6G modem from Apple or any other company until the end of this decade. However, it is clear that Apple has no intention of abandoning its long-standing plan to develop parts for its iPhone in-house.
