Qualcomm to make iPhone 15 modems after ‘Apple fail’

Qualcomm has announced that it will provide the "vast majority" of 5G modems for the next iPhone after Apple had initially been expected to build its own.

Qualcomm made the announcement in a document that accompanied its most recent earnings report, according to a report on Pocket-lint.

The announcement comes after Qualcomm itself said it was expecting to lose most of its Apple business after the tech giant signaled its intentions to begin developing its own modems after it bought up Intel's modem business in 2019.

It was reported in 2021 that Apple was looking to introduce its own 5G modem in partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) in 2023.

However, the fact that Apple were struggling to develop their own 5G modem was reported earlier this year by the tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said that Apple’s modem chip development “may have failed.”

Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in July that Apple’s modem prototypes for the iPhone 15 - expected to be launched in late 2013 - have been overheating “over the past year or so.”

However, it is still expected that Apple will eventually move to building their own modems in the future. The tech giant is notorious for wanting to control all aspects of the manufacturing process of its products and already designs many of the chips for devices like iPhones, Macs, and Apple Watches.