Apple doesn’t seem to be making any real progress with its attempts to become independent of large suppliers when it comes to radio technology. After years of waiting for the iPhone manufacturer to develop its own 5G modem to replace Qualcomm technology, it now seems to be crunching when it comes to designing its own WLAN chips. This is reported by the well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from the Taiwanese investment company TF International Securities.
Development stopped for now?
According to his most recent report to investors, work on a WLAN chip designed by Apple has currently been paused. “My recent survey of the semiconductor industry (…) shows that Apple has halted development of its own Wi-Fi chip for the time being,” writes Kuo. One reason could be that the iPhone maker is planning to combine Wi-Fi capabilities with Bluetooth to kill two birds with one stone. That’s more challenging, says Kuo.
According to the latest rumors, Apple even planned to launch iPhones with its own wireless technology by 2024 or 2025. Apple wants to install its own radio chips in the iPhone by the year after next at the latest – and not just the baseband, according to the financial news agency Bloomberg at the beginning of January. By 2025, the switch away from Qualcomm to its own 5G modem should take place, as well as its own combined WLAN and Bluetooth component in the iPhone. The latter would replace the Broadcom components that have been installed for many years, it said. The report caused a setback in the shares of the chip specialist, which, however, also builds other components for the iPhone.
Too few resources at Apple
Apple is said to have redistributed its resources for chip development. The group is now more concerned with new 3-nanometer SoCs than with WLAN components. Apple currently has “insufficient development resources” and is therefore pushing back its schedule.
Another argument against Apple’s own WLAN chip is the very rapid development of the technology, believes Kuo. It is therefore risky to develop your own chips. The company had only recently started to implement Wi-Fi 6E in its first Macs, once again using Broadcom chips, which the company has been using for many years. For the iPhone 15 this year, Kuo already expects the 6E standard.
(bsc)
