Reportedly Apple has started developing its own cellular modem this year. Reports from Bloomberg, say, Apple hardware technologies SVP Johny Srouji told employees in a meeting:
“This year, we kicked off the development of our first internal cellular modem which will enable another key strategic transition. Long-term strategic investments like these are a critical part of enabling our products and making sure we have a rich pipeline of innovative technologies for our future.”
Apple at present uses Qualcomm cellular modems for its devices, including the iPhone 12. Apple and Qualcomm signed a 6-year chipset deal last year after settling a patent royalty dispute, so the next iPhones could still be equipped with Qualcomm-made parts.
Apple has purchased the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business for $1 billion back in 2019 after Intel dropped its plans to make 5G modems for smartphones.
Bloomberg suggests that Apple has been hiring engineers from Qualcomm for some time now, and it has teams in San Diego, Cupertino, and Europe for cellular modem development.