Apple in 5G chip trouble for iPhone 15!

Apple’s 5G chip development may be quite delayed if not altogether failed! And that does not spell good news for its iPhone 15 chip plans. This has been revealed by Apple analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, who tweeted on the latest Apple 5G modem situation. According to the reports, Apple acquired Intel’s modem business back in 2019 in order to start producing in-house 5G chips for iPhones and not be dependent on outsourcing the job to other companies around the world. Though the development of the 5G modem of Apple began in late 2020, the latest revelation from Kuo indicates that Apple won’t be ready to move to its own 5G chips until 2024. iPhone 15 launch is in 2023.

Ming-Chi Kuo says in the Tweet, “My latest survey indicates that Apple's own iPhone 5G modem chip development may have failed.” That means, Qualcomm will continue to be the exclusive supplier for 5G chips for Apple’s 2023 iPhones. After the launch of the iPhone 14 series this year, Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 15 series in 2023. This means, as per Kuo’s prediction, iPhone 15 series will also receive Qualcomm’s 5G chipset. Even the current iPhone 13 series uses Qualcomm’s chipset.

According to Kuo's prediction, "Qualcomm's revenue and EPS in 2H23-1H24 will likely beat market consensus thanks to its sole supplier position for 5G chips of 2H23 new iPhones as Apple fails to replace Qualcomm.” However, by the time Apple is ready with its own 5G chipsets and may plan to replace it in the upcoming iPhone, Qualcomm is expected to have grown enough to significantly offset the negative impacts that it would face due to the order loss of iPhone 5G chips.

But what are the reasons behind the delay in Apple's 5G baseband for iPhones? The people in the industry aware of the situation claimed that the 5G baseband is different from other chips, a GizChina report mentioned. As the design and production are not direct, hence, the need for testing of these 5G bands is needed in a full range of different operators. This makes for a long process, and the pandemic has managed to further slow down Apple's progress.