Apple is gearing up to transition away from Qualcomm modems, according to report

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple’s chief of chips internally revealed that the company is already in the early staged of developing a cellular modem chip. Qualcomm supplies the modem chips for this generation of 5G-enabled iPhone 12s, but the company already plans to move away from its reliance on Qualcomm.

This year, we kicked off the development of our first internal cellular modem which will enable another key strategic transition,” – Apple hardware SVP, Johny Srouji.

With the M1 chips now arriving in new ARM-powered Mac Mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro, and Apple’s other self-made chips, Srouji pointed out that Apple is working on a “family” of chips that would power its Ecosystem of products.

Apple’s intentions were clear since it acquired Intel’s modem business back in 2019. Intel initially planned to compete with Qualcomm in the 5G space, but Apple decided it will go on with Qualcomm for another few years as it completes the design of its own modems. The report doesn’t give a time frame for when Apple plans to sell products with its new cellular modem, but we should hear more about it as the development progresses.

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