From the iPhone SE 4 to the iPhone 19: How Apple plans to banish Qualcomm from iPhones and iPads altogether

Apple has had no luck with its modem plans so far, as Bloomberg's Mark Gurman describes in a recent report. The original plan was to replace Qualcomm modems with in-house developments as early as 2021, but despite a high financial investment of several billion dollars, including the purchase of Intel's modem division, there has been one setback after another.

The tests with the Apple modem prototypes were anything but positive, with efficiency and overheating problems in particular forcing Apple to extend the contracts with Qualcomm again and again. But the outlook for 2025 is positive, after recent changes to development processes and experts acquired from Qualcomm have slowly turned the tide for the better, explains Gurman.

First move in 2025: Mid-range 5G modem

In 2025, the first guaranteed Qualcomm-free iPhones will be launched on the market, based on a modem developed by Apple itself and manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan, codenamed "Sinope". Next year, only the iPhone SE 4 (expected in the spring) and the thinner iPhone 17 Air (following in the fall) will benefit from Apple's in-house development, and the new entry-level iPads are also expected to be launched on the market without a Qualcomm modem in 2025.

The reason why the iPhone 17 Pro models are not yet included is that Apple's first modem will be a mid-range 5G modem without mmWave functionality and channel bundling limited to 4 carriers, which barely delivers more than 4 gigabits per second in tests. Nevertheless, the new "Sinope" based iPhones are said to offer advantages such as greater efficiency thanks to improved integration with Apple's A-series chips, which will also be important for satellite connectivity. The Apple modem should also make the iPhones less prone to radiation. 

Second move in 2026: Catching up with Qualcomm

According to current plans, the next step will follow in 2026 in the form of "Ganymede", which is expected to be on par with the latest Qualcomm modems and will include mmWave support, 6 Gbps download speeds and six-carrier aggregation. It will be installed for the first time in the iPhone 18 generation and the high-end iPads of 2027. 

Third move in 2027: Surpassing Qualcomm

Last but not least, Apple intends to surpass Qualcomm's solutions in 2027 with a third modem called "Prometheus" and also offer AI features and next-gen satellite features. The current plan is for Qualcomm modems to disappear from all Apple products by the iPhone 19 generation at the latest. There are also currently efforts to integrate the modems directly into the A-series chips.