The iPhone 15 may be the next in a long line of iPhones not to come with a key component coined by Apple: the 5G modem.
DigiTimes (opens in new tab)Industry sources claim that Apple has placed a significant order for 5G modems designed by Qualcomm and produced by TSMC for the iPhone 15 series and radio frequency (RF) chips. The specific 5G modem is believed to be the Snapdragon X70 that was announced earlier this year, but the main point is that this isn’t Apple’s own modem design.
Apple has been rumored to have been working on a proprietary 5G modem for several years, in line with the development of its own A-series and M-series systems-on-chips (SoCs) for its iOS and Mac devices. Currently, however, Qualcomm modems such as the Snapdragon X65 in the iPhone 14 series must be used to provide efficient 5G connectivity.
Previous rumors had claimed that 2023’s iPhone 15 would be the first iPhone to receive an Apple 5G modem. But this is now the second source to claim that the 5G modem in the iPhone 15 is not made by Apple.
Ideally, Apple’s full control of its own 5G modem would mean tighter integration with the other components, hopefully resulting in faster speeds and greater power efficiency than the more generic Snapdragon models. Still, the Qualcomm X70 modem already sounds pretty impressive thanks to its claimed AI-powered abilities to speed up your data transfers while consuming little juice from the battery, so hopefully it’ll fit nicely into the iPhone 15.
Other upgrades to look forward to on the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro and the rumored iPhone 15 Ultra appear to be USB-C charging, a revamped curved-back design, and a periscope zoom camera for the Pro/Ultra models include. However, we’ll have to wait until fall 2023 to find out for sure.