Apple’s first 5G modem will kick off a 3-year plan to leave Qualcomm behind

Macworld

It has been over five years since Apple purchased Intel’s modem division and patents, and in all that time it hasn’t managed to ship a product. Now, according to a new report from Bloomberg, the company is finally ready to bring its first 5G modem to market.

Don’t expect Apple to topple the modem giant Qualcomm, though—at least not for a while. Apple plans to roll out increasingly more capable modems over the next three years. Apple has suffered a lot of setbacks in getting its modem to market, but supposedly has “hundreds” of test phones now across the world, working with carriers to do QA testing, which means it is likely to finally come to market this spring in the iPhone SE.

The first modem is code-named Sinope, and supports only sub-6 GHz network frequencies, not the faster mmWave networks. It’s behind Qualcomm’s best in other ways, too: it supports only four-carrier aggregation (Qualcomm’s modems support 6 or more) and tops out at 4 gigabits per second (Gbps) in lab tests, well behind the best Qualcomm modems in today’s iPhones. Of course, real-world performance is far lower, anyway.

Along with the iPhone SE this spring, that model is also slated for the new iPhone 17 Air (as some are calling the new mid-range ultra-thin iPhone due for release in the fall of 2025). It will have some advantages over using Qualcomm’s modems—tighter integration with Apple’s processors should reduce power use, and it is said to scan for cellular signals more efficiently and better support connections to satellite networks.

In 2026 with the iPhone 18 (and some high-end iPads through 2027), we should see the next modem, code-named Ganymede. It is said to catch up to the current Qualcomm modems with mmWave support and better carrier aggregation, and maximum speeds of 6Gbps. Of course, Qualcomm will have better modems on the market by then, so Apple will still be behind in some ways.

The third modem, due for high-end iPhones and iPads starting in 2027, is code-named Prometheus. The report claims that Apple believes it can beat Qualcomm with a combination of better component performance, AI features, and next-gen satellite connectivity.