Apple and Qualcomm were engaged in a nasty legal battle over licensing, patent, and royalty disagreements related to modem chips. While the lawsuits were settled at the last minute, Apple has made it clear that its focus is on developing its own modem technology for future iPhone and iPad devices.
To boost these efforts, Apple completed an acquisition of Intel’s modem business in 2019. This gave the company access to engineering talent and a wide collection of standard-essential patents related to cellular technology. Apple will still have to license some patents from Qualcomm and Ericsson, though, even when it switches to in-house modems.
The new in-house modem from Apple was slated for a release as soon as this year, but Bloomberg says that “development snags” have pushed this back to late 2024 or early 2025.
As part of the shift, Apple also aims to ready its first cellular modem chip by the end of 2024 or early 2025, letting it swap out electronics from Qualcomm Inc., said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. Apple had been previously expected to replace the Qualcomm part as soon as this year, but development snags have pushed back the timeline.
To ditch Broadcom, Apple is reportedly developing a combo Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip that could debut as soon as 2025. It’s also working on a follow up version of this chip that combines the cellular modem, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth tech all into a single chip.
Apple also relies on Broadcom for other iPhone components, including radio-frequency chips and wireless charging components, but Apple “has been working on customizing those parts as well,” according to Bloomberg.