Recent rumors that Apple has abandoned the development of its own 5G modem mean that the giant will remain at the mercy of Qualcomm for several years. Johny Srouji, the company's senior vice president of hardware technology, then sat down with reporters in a recent interview and hinted that Apple is still investing heavily in cellular modem development, suggesting that development is still in its early stages, but did not address the obvious obstacles in the way forward, as well as provide a timeline or other details about the rollout of 5G modems.
In a recent CNBC interview in which Apple allowed cameras to film its lab, the experimenter tasked with developing and testing the latest M3 chipset, Apple executives Johny Srouji and John Ternus were confronted with tricky questions about the tech giant's plans for the future. When asked if Apple wants to control all of its chips, Srouji replied that Apple wants to make the best products on the planet, and if sourcing from a third-party ** meets their standards, then they will always stick to that practice.
Apple's engineers seem to be in huge trouble with the issue of developing their own 5G modem, and the cracks in the armor are finally revealed, suggesting the development of a custom one"System-on-chip"It's completely different from developing your own 5G modem. Apple is expected to launch its first custom solution as early as late 2025 or early 2026, which is why Apple recently renewed its 5G modem licensing agreement with Qualcomm.
So far, Apple's baseband has fallen far short of Qualcomm's 5G modem, and Apple's team has been receiving reports of overheating and substandard performance. Even if Apple somehow crosses this development hurdle, these 5G modems are only expected to appear on iPhones and not on other products such as iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches, where Apple will once again rely on Qualcomm.
As can be seen from the interview, Johny Srouji is apparently reluctant to admit that Apple's efforts at 5G modems have not yielded any results, but when the executive joined the California-based trillion-dollar giant in 2008 and worked on A4 chips, his vision was to create its own chips for all Apple products. While there have been some major setbacks along the way, Srouji's words in the interview highlight his determination to achieve the goals he set.