Apple has long sought to launch its in-house 5G modems for various products, starting with the iPhone, in an effort to reduce reliance on Qualcomm as it pushes towards a custom chip development strategy. Unfortunately, the California-based giant has faced more than its fair share of roadblocks, with the latest report stating that the company continues to encounter problems with its development, pushing the launch timeline to late 2025 or early 2026.

Development of Apple’s in-house 5G modem is in its early stages, with problems such as performance, overheating, and others being frequently encountered

One of the reasons why Apple renewed its 5G modem licensing agreement with Qualcomm for three more years was so that it has sufficient breathing room to continue work on its custom baseband chip. Sadly, according to Bloomberg, those efforts have been futile at this time, which is why Apple has reportedly decided to delay the launch until the end of 2025 or early 2026. As for the problems the firm is encountering, previous information stated that overheating and sub-par performance were frequently observed.

Even now, those issues have persisted, and it could take Apple years to come up with a 5G solution that could rival or even beat Qualcomm’s current-generation modems. The initial plan was to launch in-house 5G modems by 2024, but as you can see, things do not always pan out. Though development is said to be in its early stages, the current iteration does not support faster mmWave technology, with Apple also said to be running into issues with the Intel code that it was provided with.

Rewriting the code has been necessary, but adding new features has caused programs to crash and break, with Apple also having to deal with Qualcomm’s patents, avoiding any case of infringing them during any stage of the custom 5G chip’s development. Apple also tried to break Qualcomm’s monopoly by seeking 5G modem shipments from Samsung, but that did not come to fruition either. Some might agree that Apple holds an advantage when it comes to developing custom iPhone, iPad, and Mac chipsets, but it appears that the company’s weaknesses have been highlighted when it comes to 5G modem development.

Despite these multitude of hurdles, Apple is keen on coming up with its in-house 5G modem in the next couple of years, primarily because sticking with Qualcomm has been an expensive partnership and is likely the reason why the technology giant has delayed the iPhone SE 4 launch too. However, even if that custom solution does launch, we will probably continue to see Apple relying on Qualcomm for a few years afterward.

News Source: Bloomberg