Gurman: Apple Expects its Upcoming In-House Modems to Beat Qualcomm’s By 2027

Apple has an ambitious plan to replace Qualcomm’s modems in its iPhone and iPads with its own chips in the next couple of years. Apple’s first cellular modem is expected to make its debut on the next iPhone SE coming in Spring 2025, and according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company is hoping to see its chips beat Qualcomm’s by 2027.

Gurman has covered Apple’s work on its first in-house modem quite extensively, and this has been a costly multi-year effort with several delays. The company spent a billion dollars to acquire Intel’s modem unit back in 2019, and hiring the engineers and building the capacity to create modem prototypes probably cost Apple a few more billions in recent years.

Apple is all about vertical integration, and the company would prefer not to rely on Qualcomm chips for the wireless capabilities of its iPhones and iPads. Designing its own modems should also allow Apple to better integrate them with its A-series and M-series chips, which could make its mobile devices more power efficient.

Today, Gurman shared new details about Apple’s first-gen cellular modem to debut on the next iPhone SE next year. The chip is said to be inferior to Qualcomm modems currently used on the company’s latest iPhones, but that’s something Apple may see as acceptable as the iPhone SE is a “low-cost” model.

While the average consumer may not notice it, Gurman reports that Apple’s first-gen modem will lack support for 5G mmWave, a technology that supports up to 10 Gbps download speeds. Apple’s modem is expected to be limited to 4 Gbps download speeds, which should still be plenty fast enough for most people.

On the other hand, Apple’s first cellular modem will have some advantages over Qualcomm chips. “It will be tightly integrated with Apple-designed main processors to use less power, scan for cellular service more efficiently and better support on-device features for connecting to satellite networks,” Gurman explained. The reporter added that Apple’s modem will offer better performance regarding the radio frequency absorbed by the body because the specific absorption rate (SAR) “will be managed intelligently via the main processor.”

According to Gurman, Apple’s first-gen cellular modem will be manufactured by TSMC. It should also replace Qualcomm chips on the company’s lower-end iPads as early as 2025.

A second-gen modem is reportedly coming in 2026, and it’s expected to ship in “higher-end products” including the iPhone 18 lineup and high-end iPad models to be released in 2027. This 2nd gen chip should match the performance of Qualcomm’s modems by adding support for 5G mmWave.

Lastly, Gurman reported that Apple believes its third-gen cellular modem coming in 2027 will beat Qualcomm’s on performance and other aspects such as AI features and support for next-gen satellite networks. “Further out, Apple is discussing merging its modem and main processor into a single component,” Gurman said.

While Apple probably shouldn’t underestimate Qualcomm’s expertise in cellular connectivity, the release of the next iPhone SE in Spring 2025 should be a big moment for the company. Apple usually loves to highlight its chip expertise during its keynotes, and the company will likely be happy to explain why its work on its cellular modems will make iPhones even better than the competition.