The iPhone 17 and different late 2025 Apple units will function the corporate’s personal Wi-Fi 7 chips as a part of a longterm transfer away from third-party suppliers.
It is lengthy been documented that Apple is working to switch Qualcomm’s 5G modems with its personal design, however now a brand new report says it is doing the identical with Wi-Fi. Beforehand, it was rumored that Apple was aiming to drop Broadcom’s Wi-Fi processors, however now analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it’s going to occur with the iPhone 17.
Broadcom at the moment provides over 300 million Wi-Fi+BT chips (hereafter known as Wi-Fi chips) per 12 months to Apple. Nonetheless, Apple will quickly scale back its reliance on Broadcom. With new merchandise in 2H25 (e.g., iPhone 17), Apple plans to make use of its personal Wi-Fi chips, which shall be
— (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) October 31, 2024
Unusually, Kuo has solely tweeted this information as an alternative of additionally making ready a extra detailed weblog put up. Partly due to that, it isn’t clear whether or not this information is Kuo’s supposition, or relies on data from his business sources.
The complete tweet, although, does proceed with slightly extra element. In addition to saying the iPhone 17 will get the Apple-designed Wi-Fi chips in 2025, Kuo says the processors shall be Wi-Fi 7.
What’s extra, Apple is reportedly assured sufficient in its Wi-Fi 7 design that it “expects to maneuver practically all merchandise to in-house Wi-Fi chips inside about three years.” Kuo doesn’t clarify why some merchandise won’t get Apple-designed Wi-Fi chips.
It will not be, as an illustration, smaller units just like the Apple Watch, whose chassis would presumably would possibly require a unique design to Wi-Fi chips within the iPhone or iPad. That is as a result of Apple has been utilizing its personal modem in that since 2019’s Apple Watch Collection 3.
No matter units Apple makes use of its personal modems for, although, Kuo makes the plain level that it’s going to scale back prices. It would additionally, he says, “improve Apple’s ecosystem integration benefits.”
At the moment Apple makes use of Wi-Fi chips from Broadcom. From 2016 to 2023, the 2 corporations have been embroiled in a Wi-Fi patent dispute with Caltech.