It’s been rumored since 2020 that Apple has been developing its own chip for future iPhones. This owing to information shared by Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, Johny Srouji, (via Bloomberg), at a town hall meeting with Apple employees, where he said: “This year, we kicked off the development of our first internal cellular modem which will enable another key strategic transition.” However, now a new rumor has surfaced saying we can’t expect the Apple chip to debut until at least 2025 and Qualcomm is predicted to remain the supplier of modems for all iPhone 15 (opens in new tab) and iPhone 16 models instead.
Via MacRumors (opens in new tab), we have intel shared by Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu, in a research note on Friday, which says he expects iPhone models released in 2024 to use Qualcomm’s as-yet-unannounced Snapdragon X75 modem. This chip. like the Snapdragon X70, is expected to be manufactured based on TSMC’s 4nm process, contributing to power efficiency improvements.
This new intel matches up with the information shared by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo back in the summer, saying that “Apple’s own iPhone 5G modem chip development may have failed” and that consequently, Qualcomm would remain the exclusive supplier of 5G modems for new iPhone models in 2023. What Kuo didn’t provide was a timeframe for Apple would use their own chip in iPhones, but now thanks to Pu we know we could be looking at 2025.
(1/4)[Company Update] Qualcomm (QCOM.O)My latest survey indicates that Apple’s own iPhone 5G modem chip development may have failed, so Qualcomm will remain exclusive supplier for 5G chips of 2H23 new iPhones, with a 100% supply share (vs. company’s previous estimate of 20%).June 28, 2022
Qualcomm Snapdragon X70
Currently, it’s expected that all iPhone 15 models will be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X70 modem, which was announced in February. The X70 supports up to 10 Gbps download speeds (as does the Snapdragon X65 modem in iPhone 14 models (opens in new tab)) but boasts added artificial intelligence capabilities for faster average speeds, improved coverage, lower latency, better signal quality, and importantly up to 60% better power efficiency.
iPhone 15: Rumors so far
Although Apple only launched the iPhone 14 family (opens in new tab) a month ago, the above isn’t the only intel we have on the iPhone 15. A huge leak surfaced online last month, via the usually reliable @LeaksApplePro (opens in new tab), telling us several things about next year’s models and points towards the differences in the vanilla and Pro models becoming even more vast than seen on the iPhone 14 Pro (opens in new tab).
Here’s what I shared with my subscribers about iPhone 15 three days ago:-All four models will come with usb-c and the Dynamic Island-The iPhone 15 will come with the A16, while the 15 Pro will come with the A17. I’ll gather info about this chip and share it with you soon.September 19, 2022
According to @LeaksApplePro (opens in new tab) Dynamic Island could stop being a Pro exclusive and feature in all models, which really would be great. The leaker also says all models in the iPhone 15 series will ditch the Lightning port in favor of USB Type-C.
The Apple iPhone 14 sees the newer SoC on the Pro models only and @LeaksApplePro (opens in new tab) says this will also be the case next year with standard iPhone 15 models getting the A16 Bionic and the Pro models featuring an all-new A17 one.
LeaksApplePro has also leaked that Apple will use a new naming scheme for the iPhone15 and that the Pro Max label could be dropped. This would mean we would get iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Ultra, and would certainly simplify things. Additionally, the leak says that the 6.7-inch Ultra model (which would replace the Pro Max as we know the range now) could have exclusive features in addition to the larger display.
Finally, the prolific leaker has also shared that Apple may be working on 8K video recording support and that the tech giant is looking to improve battery life for the new series. It’s rumored that on the iPhone Ultra model, Apple is aiming for the battery to last 3-4 hours longer.
The iPhone 15 is expected to launch in September 2023, in line with Apple’s stand launch model, so we expect a plethora of leaks and rumors before then.
If you’re wondering which iPhone 14 model you should buy, check out our iPhone 14 vs iPhone 14 Pro (opens in new tab) comparison guide to all four new models. You might also like the best iPhone for photography (opens in new tab).
