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Apple reportedly planning to use first-generation in-house 5G modem in iPhone SE next year, hopes to reach parity with Qualcomm by 2027
Apple is to begin rolling out its internally developed modem next spring in the entry-level iPhone SE, which will be updated for the first time since 2022, Bloomberg reported.
The iPhone maker purchased Intel’s modem division for about $1 billion (£780m) in 2019 to boost its project to design modems in-house and replace those it buys from Qualcomm, initially hoping to begin using the modems in 2021.
But the modems were not of sufficient quality, running too hot or or lacking power-efficiency, Bloomberg’s report said.
More recently Apple poached scores of engineers from Qualcomm itself, which reportedly helped move the initiative forward.
Three-stage rollout
Apple also reportedly modified development practices and reorganised management of the plan, which is under the hardware technologies team run by senior vice president Johny Srouji.
The first-generation in-house modem, code-named Sinope, is to appear in the iPhone SE and a mid-tier iPhone later in 2025 code-named D23, as well as lower-end iPads as early as 2025, Bloomberg said.
Sinope does not support mmWave 5G, as do high-end Qualcomm chips, instead using the Sub-6 standard used in the current iPhone SE.
The first-generation part only supports four-carrier aggregation, compared to six carriers for some Qualcomm chips.
But it will be more tightly integrated with Apple’s in-house processors, allowing it to use less power, scan for cellular service more efficiently and better support on-device features for connecting to satellite networks, the report said.
A second-generation modem called Ganymede is scheduled to arrive in 2026 in higher-end products in the iPhone 18 range, arriving in higher-end iPads by the following year.
Delayed efforts
Ganymede is planned to support mmWave, faster download speeds, six-carrier aggregation when using Sub-6 and eight-carrier aggregation with mmWave.
In 2027 Apple plans to introduce a third-generation modem called Prometheus that it believes will beat Qualcomm on performance and artificial intelligence features, as well as including support for next-generation satellite networks, Bloomberg’s report said.
It said Apple is looking for ways of integrating its processors and modems in the longer term.
In 2021 reports indicated Apple was hoping to begin using its own 5G modems by 2023.
But the company last year extended an agreement to use modem chips from Qualcomm in its iPhones for three more years, in a sign that its own modem efforts were taking longer than expected to pay off.
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