Apple is working on its own modem for use in future iPhones

Apple used to exclusively employ Qualcomm-made modems in its smartphones, then switched to a 50-50 split between Qualcomm and Intel, and this year started exclusively collaborating with Intel, pushing Qualcomm aside while at the same time being involved in a litigation war with the company.

In the future, however, Apple wants to create its own modems for iPhones, just like it does with their CPUs and GPUs. This intention has been revealed through a job posting in the San Diego, California area. What's more, The Information spoke to "a person briefed on Apple's plans", who confirmed that the company does indeed have an active project to build its own cellular modem chip for use in iPhones.

However, it's still early days. Due to the inherent complexities involved in the process of developing such a chip, it could take as long as three years for an iPhone to actually sport the in-house designed modem. So perhaps 2020 at the earliest, 2021 at the latest would be a good time frame in which to consider such a product showing up in the market.

Source