Reports Suggest that Apple may be Leaving the business of developing 5g modems.
Although the latter are nothing but unverified approximations, there are unsubstantiated rumors from Asia which claim that Apple stopped its work on the new modem recently undergoing trials because it has encountered huge problems over the course of the last months.
User “yeux1122” has mentioned in his post on Naver’s Blog about this insider detail that it comes from “supply chain sources”. It is said that Apple Inc is currently at the stage of liquidation of departments and personnel involved in 5G modem
Yes, it is a little bit premature to conclude that it’s impossible to continue something that Apple has been trying to realize for several years. In fact, only recently one WSJ article mentioned rumors about serious problems with unachievable objectives, ill preparedness for difficulties and totally useless prototypes.
The WSJ report highlighted internal obstacles faced by Apple teams, “largely internal,” slowing down the project due to technical challenges and poor communication from managers with conflicting ideas: those favoring custom modem designs and others arguing that it was more cost-efficient to purchase them elsewhere.
According to reliable sources, apple has started developing a modem since at least 2018, pouring billions of dollars in research and development, hired thousands of engineers, and purchased intel’s (unsuccessful) smartphone modem unit for about one billion dollars in 20
Originally, it aimed at terminating relationships with Qualcomm by the close of 2023 which is one year before the end of the five-year agreement they signed with the Californian firm back in 2019. However, Qualcomm was recently granted an extension that lasts until 2026, delaying the modem’s launch until a steady reveal in 2025.
In early November, another influential Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman pointed out other “ongoing issues” in the development of Qualcomm’s proprietary 5G modem, at least part of which was blamed on the Intel code used in recent years. Moreover, a yet to be created modem is said not to have installed features capable of embracing mmWaves technology.