Over the past few years, Apple has been trying to stop relying on third-party components for its iPhones. Most recently, cellular modem chips have been eliminated, and a switch to Apple-made components appears to be imminent.

Currently, the modems in the iPhone are manufactured by Qualcomm, but according to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple's own modems are scheduled to debut in 2025.

The first iPhone with this new modem will reportedly be the iPhone SE 4, which is expected to launch next spring. However, Garman claims that the first version of Apple's modem will be much weaker than the Qualcomm chips currently available.

Simply put, the modem in a smartphone connects the phone to a cell tower, enabling calls and Internet access via cellular.

According to a Bloomberg article, Apple hopes to overtake Qualcomm with increasingly “sophisticated” chips by 2027.

Garman delves more deeply into the history of Apple's modem development, but in brief, Apple has been working on this project since at least 2021, spending billions of dollars, including acquiring Intel's modem group and several hundred engineers.

Interestingly, the first version of this modem, codenamed Sinope, will not be included in next year's flagship iPhone 17. This new modem could be found in the much-rumored iPhone 17 Air and lower-end iPad models; the SE 4 is likely to be a true test for Apple's in-house modem.

Sinope will not support mmWave, a 5G technology capable of handling high download speeds. Instead, it will use the Sub-6Ghz standard found in the current iPhone SE, which debuts in 2022.

The new modem will reportedly be more integrated into Apple's iPhone system, so while connectivity will be downgraded, it will be more efficient, consume less power, and better support network connectivity.

Like many of Apple's chip components, Sinope will be manufactured by TSM, which also produces the Apple-designed A series processors.

According to the report, Apple modems will be available in more products in 2026, including the iPhone 18. By then, Apple's modems should support mmWave and achieve greater download speeds.

Garman briefly mentioned that Apple is considering integrating the modem and main processor as one component.

Advances in processors and features make the iPhone a powerful device, and it will be interesting to see how the modem switch will affect Apple devices.