China Economic Weekly reporter Zhou Ruifeng
Recently, according to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple plans to launch a cellular version of the MacBook in the future, with a self-developed modem chip built-in, which may be launched as early as 2028.
Bloomberg reported that since 2018, Apple has been developing modems in the hope of reducing its reliance on Qualcomm components, especially on the iPhone. However, the release time of the modem has been postponed multiple times. According to Gurman's prediction, Apple's self-developed modem chip may be released around 2026 and plans to widely use it in other Apple devices.
According to Gulman, Apple hopes to terminate its expensive transaction with Qualcomm and increase its control over component development. Apple's goal is to integrate the modem into its system level chip (SoC) and ultimately launch the MacBook with built-in cellular network connectivity.
Gurman stated that after the component is successfully integrated into the SoC, Apple may need another two to three years to integrate the modem chip into cellular versions of the Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac.
In the past, Apple considered adding cellular connectivity to the MacBook. In fact, the company had considered launching the MacBook Air with 3G connectivity. However, former CEO Steve Jobs stated in 2008 that Apple had decided not to do so because it would take up too much body space.
But integrating SoC will solve this problem.
Gurman stated that Apple is also working on some other self-made chip projects. Apple hopes to discontinue Broadcom's wireless components by 2025. Apple is developing a WiFi and Bluetooth chip to replace the chips currently purchased from Broadcom.
In 2019, Apple acquired most of Intel's smartphone business and began developing its own modem hardware, but this project experienced some setbacks.
Industry insiders say that if Apple wants to produce competitors with performance comparable to Qualcomm chips, it still needs& Quot; A few years of time& Quot;.
Initially, Apple planned to independently develop a successful modem chip before 2024 and conduct testing on the iPhone SE model first. Once the expected effect is achieved, it will be expanded and applied to other products. However, there were later reports that the release date was postponed to the spring of 2025.
Recently, Gurman stated that Apple plans to once again delay the launch of its self-developed modem chip, which has been postponed until the end of 2025 or early 2026.
Gurman stated that the development of Apple's modem chips is still in its early stages and "may lag behind competitors by several years". The version being developed does not support faster millimeter wave technology, and Apple has also encountered issues with the Intel code it has been using. Need to rewrite, adding new features will cause existing features to fail, and Apple must be careful not to infringe Qualcomm patents when developing chips.
An Apple employee told Gurman, "Why do we feel like we can inherit a failed project from Intel and succeed in some way?" It is said that Apple's hardware technology team is facing resource shortages in many projects, making it difficult to solve difficulties. Insufficient resource allocation has caused difficulties for the team.
In 2017, Apple's dissatisfaction with Qualcomm reached the point of being sued in court. Apple accuses Qualcomm of unfairly charging unrelated technology patent fees and claims that Qualcomm overcharges its modem chip technology.
In the iPhone 11 series, Apple decided not to use Qualcomm chips but instead chose to use Intel chips. However, the partnership between Apple and Intel is short-lived. After the launch of iPhone 11, Apple plans to continue using Intel chips in its first 5G phone, the iPhone 12 series, but Intel is unable to produce 5G chips that meet Apple standards.
In the end, Apple had to reach a settlement with Qualcomm and withdraw all lawsuits. The two companies signed a new contract and renewed it in September 2023. The new agreement covers smartphones released in 2024, 2025, and 2026.
Qualcomm executive Serge Willenegger stated that Apple did not make sufficient predictions about the complexity of developing modem chips, and cellular networks were not as simple.