Apple's C1 modem is the first step towards 'a platform for generations,' executives say

AppleInsider

The custom modem in the iPhone 16e lays the groundwork for future Apple projects, as the company intends to use its proprietary modems across future products.

Apple says its C1 modem is just the start.

On Wednesday, Apple announced the entry-level iPhone 16e, with a relatively modest design echoing the iPhone 14. One of the device's stand-out features is an all-new in-house modem. Created and designed exclusively by Apple, it replaces previously used Qualcomm technology.

Apple's long-rumored custom modem, developed under the project codename "Sinope," allows for tight integration between the iPhone software and hardware. This is why the iPhone 16e reportedly has the best battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone, according to Apple.

The company sees its new modem as merely the first step, which will inevitably lead to "a platform for generations." Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, shared his thoughts on the C1 in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.

"C1 is the start, and we're going to keep improving that technology each generation, so that it becomes a platform for us that will be used to truly differentiate this technology for our products," said Srouji.

While Apple's modem lacks mmWave support, it features custom GPS and satellite connectivity. This is particularly useful when users are unable to connect to mobile data networks, for one reason or another.

The future of Apple's modems, and the company's goals

Apple's new modem isn't meant to compete with chips made by other manufacturers, but is instead meant to cater specifically to the needs of the iPhone 16e and future devices.

"We're not the merchant vendor to go compete with Qualcomm and MediaTek and others. I believe we're building something truly differentiating that our customer will benefit from," said Srouji in the interview.

The iPhone maker has explicitly confirmed it intends to use proprietary modems across future products, though no specific details were provided. While Apple themselves didn't provide any information on which upcoming products would get a custom modem, leakers have already given us some hints.

The C1 might make its way to the iPhone 17 Air

According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, and others, Apple will use the C1 modem for its iPhone 17 Air, expected to debut in September 2025. Kuo also said, however, that the remainder of the iPhone 17 range would receive the Apple-developed C1, meaning that they will retain Qualcomm modems for at least another year.

The iPhone 17 Air could be the next device to use Apple's C1 modem.

Qualcomm believes its share of modems in Apple devices could drop by a staggering 80% due to the introduction of the Apple C1 subsystem. This ultimately makes sense, as Apple wants to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm, despite having a technology licensing agreement which is valid until 2027.

Kuo has said that Apple will stop using Qualcomm modems by the same year, which aligns with the iPhone maker's statements and apparent goals. Future generations of Apple modems will likely include noteworthy improvements, with mmWave support being a distinct possibility.

Apart from the iPhone 17 Air, Apple could opt to use its custom modems in other entry-level products, gradually rolling them out over three years. We could see cellular-enabled MacBooks as a result of these endeavors.

The iPhone 17 range is still a few months away, however, so whether or not the iPhone 17 Air will feature Apple's C1 remains to be seen. It's a strong possibility, especially when Srouji's comments on the modem are taken into account.




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xed

I haven't been this excited about Apple R&D in a long time.

danox

The whole purpose of doing a in house modem is to control your destiny by being able to design what you want and not be tied to some outside entity. Which is basically the same reason for designing Apple Silicon, having boat anchors like Intel, AMD, and Nvidia, was as bad as having Motorola of Schaumburg, Illinois and IBM. Long-term getting rid of Qualcomm will be a plus miniaturizing the Apple Vision to a pair of glasses or putting a modem into future Macs or any other Apple device in time requires it. How long will this take? As long as necessary that’s the way iteration/innovation works.

edited February 21

avon b7

No one would have thought the current modem was a one-off.

They are simply stating the obvious. 

Every modem maker could say the same. 

The real message is probably, 'don't expect too much from this product in comparison to others already out there'. 

darelrex

danox said:

The whole purpose of doing a in house modem is to control your destiny by being able to design what you want and not be tied to some outside entity. Which is basically the same reason for designing Apple Silicon, having boat anchors like Intel, AMD, and Nvidia, was as bad as having Motorola of Schaumburg, Illinois and IBM. Long-term getting rid of Qualcomm will be a plus miniaturizing the Apple Vision to a pair of glasses or putting a modem into future Macs or any other Apple device in time requires it. How long will this take? As long as necessary that’s the way iteration/innovation works.

Totally agree. Also, this takes Apple's economy-of-scale benefit away from Apple's competitors, and gives it to Apple's C1 chips only. As Apple sells the great majority of high-priced phones, when Apple fully separates from Qualcomm, then Qualcomm will be selling modem chips to a much lower average-price-point set of products, from which it's impossible to juice the kind of money they were hitting Apple for, all these years — Qualcomm was using that money for ongoing development of its Snapdragon modems; now Apple will be using that money for ongoing development of C1, C2, etc.

edited February 21

humbug1873

Leaving MagSafe out is inherently logical from a manufacturing point of view.
Since the materials needed  for MagSafe (rare earth) are exceedingly rare outside of China, which puts high tariffs on exports or doesn't even allow export unless it's in a manufactured product (thanks to the tariff war that one orange idiot started a couple of years ago) ... and I bet one main design goal was to produce the cheap-o version outside of China (mainly in India) to avoid US import tarriffs (that a certain orange felon recently introduced). Since this is the low-cost model, there is no room for 'expensive' features in that setting.

dewme

Xed said:

I haven't been this excited about Apple R&D in a long time.

I share your enthusiasm. One of the secret sauces in Apple products has always been about hardware and software integration and connectivity. No, I'm not just talking about communication, I'm talking about connectedness. Qualcomm builds communication components that implement certain communication mechanisms and protocols. I'm talking about all of the application and service layers that factor connectedness into things like contextual awareness, high performance, resiliency, power consumption, failover, fallback, end-to-end transactional integrity, security, privacy, etc., in addition to things like distributed processing, load balancing, and resource sharing and reallocation. Communication provides the raw pipe needed to build upon to achieve connectedness. If Apple builds their own pipe they can optimize it to work more efficiently and effectively with their already integrated hardware and software systems. It's a logical extension to what they are already doing, with Apple now having more control over the total solution.

Apple's unwavering approach to taking control of both the hardware and software integration and symmetry in their products has paid huge dividends for Apple and its stakeholders. By adding in control over the communication elements, the level of integration, symmetry, and connectedness that Apple will have over the most vital parts of connected products and systems will improve dramatically once they learn how to truly leverage it. The C1 is a small but important step in that direction.

hammeroftruth

avon b7 said:

No one would have thought the current modem was a one-off.

They are simply stating the obvious. 

Every modem maker could say the same. 

The real message is probably, 'don't expect too much from this product in comparison to others already out there'. 

The better battery life is a really good start. That could help by not needing large batteries like they do with Qualcomm chips. This gives more credence to an iPhone air. 

xed

hammeroftruth said:

avon b7 said:

No one would have thought the current modem was a one-off.

They are simply stating the obvious. 

Every modem maker could say the same. 

The real message is probably, 'don't expect too much from this product in comparison to others already out there'. 

The better battery life is a really good start. That could help by not needing large batteries like they do with Qualcomm chips. This gives more credence to an iPhone air. 

And more space for tech that would otherwise not be possible by larger components needed to power less efficient chips. 

But we’ll have to wait and see how this all shakes out. Qualcomm has dominated this field for so long that I’m curious what Apple can do in this space without others having valid patent claims. 

Apple did an amazing job with making ARM SoCs so I’m hopeful this will become a similar slingshot for Apple.