Apple’s 5G modem has reportedly been in the works for a few years. After some setbacks, it seems the company is now aiming for a 2025 release, as analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Qualcomm could suffer two big market share losses.
According to Kuo, “two potential risks for Qualcomm are that the market share of Exynos 2400 in Samsung mobile phones is higher than expected, and Apple is expected to use its own modem chip starting in 2025.”
This report corroborates what Kuo has already said: Apple would only release its first cellular modem chip by the end of 2024 or 2025 with the iPhone 17. The company may also plan to release the modem in the next iPhone SE.
Previous reports show this in-house 5G baseband chip would use a 4nm process and would only support Sub-6GHz as the current plan. Kuo said he would discuss more details about this 5G modem in the future, but in previous analysis, he had mentioned this modem could launch alongside an iPhone SE 4.
A new iPhone SE might depend on Apple’s manufacturing its own 5G modem
Kuo says the iPhone SE 4 will feature a similar design to the 6.1-inch iPhone 14, meaning it will have the same design, a smaller notch, and an OLED display. Currently, Apple uses the same design as the 2017 iPhone 8 for the iPhone SE 3.
With a redesign, an OLED display, and in-house 5G support, we still don’t know which processor Apple will actually use for this device. Besides, there are no signs of Apple adopting a dual-system camera module or if it will follow the iPhone XR trend and continue offering only one primary camera.
The iPhone SE 4 will also need a few other camera tricks, such as Night Mode, which is still unavailable for the current generation.
While it was rumored that the current iPhone SE could turn a billion Android owners into switchers, the lack of new features, the classic design, and a price hike made this generation sell poorly.
BGR will keep reporting on the new iPhone SE 4 and Apple’s in-house 5G modem.
