Apple is now likely to miss its early 2025 commercial launch deadline of readying its first in-house 5G modems that replace Qualcomm’s, according to a new Bloomberg report.
The company is now looking to miss two deadlines where it hoped its self-designed 5G modems would be ready to be included in future iPhone models. First, Apple hoped to include those new modems next year as part of the iPhone 16 lineup, before delaying its plans to spring of 2025. Now, Bloomberg reports that the company will also miss this new deadline, now hoping to ship its 5G modems by late 2025 or early 2026 at the earliest
The project, which kicked off in 2018, reportedly employs thousands of engineers, yet Apple allegedly remains “years away from cracking the problem.” The company is facing particular difficulties with writing firmware for the modem, with much of the codebase inherited from its acquisition of Intel’s modem business having to be rewritten from the ground up. During the rewriting process, functional pieces of the code would occasionally stop working altogether when adding new features, forcing further rewrites.
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In addition to reported performance issues compared to Qualcomm modems, some prototypes don’t even feature the faster mmWave 5G standard, the report adds. Apple reportedly is still undecided whether it plans to include the standard in addition to sub-6GHz on its first commercial modem, which it currently plans to debut on the next-generation iPhone SE.
Another hurdle further ahead is the complex testing process. Apple has reportedly been testing prototypes of its modems within current iPhones situated within the company’s offices as well as mobile testing vans that roam around Silicon Valley. In the future, Apple will be required to test and certify its modems with hundreds of carriers around the world, an arduous process that Qualcomm already perfected after decades of experience in the industry.
The project naturally involves many teams, which Bloomberg reports to include hardware technologies and hardware engineering groups, as well as a software engineering unit. The hardware technologies team in particular is reportedly “stretched thin” as it is involved in various projects simultaneously. Elsewhere, engineers working on the project are deliberately separated from others who work directly with Qualcomm chips for current Apple products as a way to avoid infringing on the latter’s patents.
As a result of the project’s never-ending mishaps, Apple was forced to extend its licensing deal with Qualcomm for its modems in September, with the new deal now running till 2026.
