There are surprisingly few firms making their very own 5G modems – and as of final week, Apple is now certainly one of them. Their first go is the Apple C1 discovered contained in the iPhone 16e. Whereas Apple touted its energy effectivity, the C1 does have limitations that can forestall its adoption into the extra premium iPhones.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reviews that Apple is engaged on a “refreshed C1” for subsequent yr, which is able to elevate an important limitation – the shortage of mmWave help.
The present C1 helps sub-6GHz 5G solely. It consists of a 4nm or 5nm baseband, 7nm low-frequency transceivers, 7nm additionally for the intermediate frequencies and a 55nm Energy Administration Built-in Circuit (PMIC).
Kuo reviews that Apple is unlikely to shift the baseband to 3nm for the following model – it’s not essentially the most power-hungry part of a 5G modem, so there are few beneficial properties available right here.
However what Apple will do is add mmWave transceivers and front-end elements (utilizing a 28nm node) to allow the quickest 5G speeds doable (within the areas that even have mmWave, not less than). Kuo says that getting mmWave to work isn’t troublesome, however a mmWave modem that’s each steady and energy environment friendly is difficult.
Beforehand, Kuo reported that the iPhone 17 Air will use the C1 chip in addition to Apple’s in-house Wi-Fi chip. Nevertheless, the remainder of the iPhone 17 household will persist with the Qualcomm 5G modem whereas additionally adopting the Apple Wi-Fi chip (beforehand, Apple used Broadcom chips for that).
It’s not clear whether or not pre-existing offers or the shortage of mmWave help will maintain the C1 out of most iPhone 17 fashions. But it surely’s fairly doable that extra of the iPhone 18 fashions (and never simply the following Air) will undertake the refreshed C1 modem subsequent yr. As for a correct sequel, an Apple C2, there isn’t any data on that but.
