Following experiences earlier this month that Apple is planning to make use of its personal 5G modem within the subsequent iPhone SE, a brand new report claims that Apple will begin to implement its personal Wi-Fi chip within the iPhone 17 beginning subsequent yr.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted on X that within the second half of 2025, Apple will use its personal Wi-Fi chip in new merchandise, ditching the chip created by Qualcomm. The chip might be manufactured utilizing “TSMC’s N7 course of and help the most recent Wi-Fi 7 spec.” See the X submit under:
Broadcom at present provides over 300 million Wi-Fi+BT chips (hereafter known as Wi-Fi chips) per yr 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 might be made by TSMC’s N7 course of and help the most recent Wi-Fi 7 spec. Apple expects to maneuver almost all merchandise to in-house Wi-Fi chips inside about three years. This transfer will scale back prices and improve Apple’s ecosystem integration benefits.
Apparently, Kuo states the iPhone 17 for instance, which makes it unclear if he thinks the iPhone 17 will use the identical 5G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth combo chip that was reported by 9to5Mac earlier this month, or if he’s referring to a unique chip altogether.
Apple may additionally replace its just-released M4 Mac lineup with the M5 chip within the second half of 2025 and set up its personal Wi-Fi chip, which is able to use “the most recent W-Fi 7 spec” in keeping with Kuo. The brand new M4 Macs surprisingly don’t function Wi-Fi 7 just like the iPhone 16 lineup. As an alternative, they’ve Wi-Fi 6E, so maybe Apple held off on Wi-Fi 7 till its personal chip is prepared.
Rumors of an Apple-made 5G modem have been making the rounds for years, and it appears that evidently it may lastly come to fruition subsequent yr. By creating its personal chip as an alternative of counting on a third-party one, Apple can optimize it for efficiency, which may assist with energy effectivity and efficiency. It may additionally save the corporate some cash, too.