The iPhone 16e is the first Apple device with the company’s custom Wi-Fi chip. Apple says this new radio is “the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone, delivering fast and reliable 5G cellular connectivity.”
While we still have to see how it works in real life, Apple apparently feels pretty confident it’s good enough to compete against Qualcomm. Reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the company plans to replace Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi chips on the entire iPhone 17 series later this year.
The analyst writes: “My latest industry survey indicates that all new 2H25 iPhone 17 models will feature Apple’s in-house Wi-Fi chips (vs. only the slim iPhone 17 will adopt Apple’s C1 modem chip). Beyond cost reduction, the switch to in-house Wi-Fi chips will enhance connectivity across Apple devices.”
Interestingly enough, an anonymous leaker on X, with a great track record, already revealed the identifier of Apple’s C2 chip, which will likely power the iPhone 17 lineup. This upcoming modem is known inside as C4020; the C1 is C4000.
At this moment, it’s unclear how much Apple will improve the new chips. Previously, Kuo believed only the iPhone 17 Air would feature Apple’s own modem, but he now says all new models will have it.
In addition, Apple has an ambitious three-year plan to ditch Qualcomm’s 5G chips for its own. Bloomberg reported that besides the C1 chip (the name was unknown at the time), Apple was already working on the second generation. While the report said it would be used on the 2026 iPhone, the company might ramp up the work to make it available on all iPhone 17 models.
According to the publication, the C2 chip would finally add mmWave support, download speeds of 6 gigabits per second, six-carrier aggregation when using Sub-6 5G, and eight-carrier aggregation when using mmWave.
BGR will let you know once we learn more about Apple’s future plans.
