Apple will follow Huawei to abandon Qualcomm 5G modem in 2025

Apple will follow Huawei to abandon Qualcomm 5G modem in 2025.

According to information revealed by supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on Sep 06, Apple plans to use its own modem chip on the iPhone starting from 2025.

He previously said that the fourth-generation iPhone SE would be the first device to use a custom-designed 5G modem, but it is not clear yet if this is still Apple’s plan.

In July this year, there were reports that the mass production of the fourth-generation iPhone SE was delayed until 2025, so it may still be the first device to be equipped with an Apple modem, but the rumors about this project have been contradictory.

It has been reported that Apple has been planning to launch its own modem for more than five years, and it acquired most of Intel’s smartphone modem business in 2019.

Based on the 2025 timeframe, it is expected that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models will stick to using Qualcomm modems.

If they can overcome the development difficulties reported earlier, future iPhone SE and iPhone 17 models may start to switch to Apple modems.

It is not clear yet if the 5G modem designed by Apple will bring any benefits to consumers compared to Qualcomm modems, but it will reduce Apple’s dependence on Qualcomm as a supplier.

In 2017, Apple sued Qualcomm for alleged monopoly behavior and $1 billion in unpaid patent fee rebates. The two companies reached a settlement in 2019.

Huawei Balong 5000 5G modem:

Balong 5000 is a 5G baseband chip developed by Huawei, with a peak value of 3.2G/s. On January 24, 2019, Huawei released the Balong 5000 baseband chip at the 5G conference in Beijing.

Development History

On January 24, 2019, Huawei held the Huawei 5G conference and MWC2019 pre-communication meeting at its Beijing Research Institute, and released the Balong 5000 baseband chip at the meeting.

Features

Balong 5000 adopts a single-chip multi-mode 5G module, which can realize multiple network standards of 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G in a single chip, effectively reducing the delay and power consumption caused by data exchange between multiple modes.

At the same time, it is also the first in the world to support NSA and SA networking methods, and supports FDD and TDD to realize full-band use.

In terms of speed, Balong 5000 is the first to achieve the industry benchmark 5G peak download rate, achieving 4.6Gbps in the Sub-6GHz (low frequency band, the main frequency band for 5G) frequency band, and reaching 4.6Gbps in the millimeter wave (high frequency band, 5G extended frequency band) frequency band. 6.5Gbps, which is 10 times the experience rate of 4GLTE.