iPhone 15 and 15 Plus: Teardown reveals 5G modem upgrade from Qualcomm

Apple touts its A16 Bionic processor as a "Pro-proven powerhouse", which may be why it has been re-used in the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. That might have led some consumers to wonder if the Cupertino giant also went ahead and recycled the 14 Pro and Pro Max' whole motherboards in making its new vanilla models.

Well, according to lead iFixit teardown technician Shahram Mokhtari, that is not the case. The device repair enthusiasts claim to have uncovered the 2 new vanilla iPhones' 5G modem in the course of their disassembly, and it is a new model. 

iFixit asserts that the entire iPhone 15 line-up has the Snapdragon X70 (or SDX70M) as opposed to the X65 of yesteryear. They are both external modems found alongside either the A16 Bionic or A17 Pro supplied by Qualcomm, (as with their successors for years to come), and confers Emergency SOS via Satellite on vanilla iPhones in 2023 as well as on their Pro counterparts.

The 15 and 15 Plus' internals also support other new fancy location-based "safety" features such as Roadside Assistance via Satellite as well as Crash Detection (then again, so does the Watch Series 9's new SiP). They also share the latest Apple UWB chip with the 15 Pro and Pro Max, although the "Thread networking technology" for potentially upgraded integration with smart home devices remains exclusive to the A17 Pro-powered models.

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