Apple plans to introduce its in-house Wi-Fi chip with the iPhone 17 Pro. At least, this is what Haitong Securities analyst Jeff Pu reports. According to him, in 2025, Apple plans to implement its in-house Wi-Fi 7 chip to the iPhone 17 Pro series. In addition, by 2026, all iPhone 18 models will use Apple’s in-house Wi-Fi chip.
This report corroborates what Bloomberg wrote earlier this year: Apple’s developing a custom Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip for the 2025 release. At the time, the publication said that even with Apple planning to make this change, Broadcom, which currently supplies this chip, would continue sending Apple other components, such as radio-frequency chips and one that handles wireless charging. Bloomberg believes Apple will make this transition step-by-step, introducing its custom Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip on its higher-end phones and then rolling to the rest of the line.
Interestingly, this report comes after several other stories mentioned that Apple’s plans to develop its own 5G modem have been a disaster. Since the company can’t afford to introduce a cellular chip that doesn’t work as well as Qualcomm’s, Apple has been pushing its in-house modem for later this decade.
That said, it seems the Wi-Fi chip won’t be a problem, as the goal remains for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Pu, it’s important to note that it doesn’t mention the iPhone 17 Pro will have an integrated Bluetooth + Wi-Fi, but it likely does.
In addition, this report also has a controversy. Pu says Mediatek will supply Apple Wi-Fi 6 chips for the 2024 iPad, with a 30% market share growth in the second half of 2024 due to this win. Although it seems Mediatek could supply the entry-level iPad, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that “as far as he’s concerned, market rumors that MediaTek has received orders for Apple iPad Wi-Fi chips and will ship them in 2024 are not true. MediaTek’s current Wi-Fi orders for Apple are mainly for devices with lower Wi-Fi spec and requiring plug-in use (e.g., Apple TV or other peripherals), with shipments as early as 2025 or 2026.”
While we’ll have to wait for these products to be officially introduced, it’s interesting to see Apple’s shift to its own chips for the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and MediaTek’s possible growth into Cupertino’s supply chain.
