Apple may be dealing with an uncharacteristic failure, with its 5G modem development efforts not going according to plans.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted the news early Tuesday afternoon. Kuo is well-respected for his track record of being right far more often than not in his Apple predictions.
Apple purchased Intel’s 5G modem business after the latter failed to make significant headway against Qualcomm’s market dominance. At the time, it was believed that Apple was hoping to use the purchase to create its own modems for the 2022 iPhones. When that didn’t happen, some believed Apple would make the change in the 2023 lineup.
Kuo believes Qualcomm is now on target to exceed revenue expectations for the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, thanks to being the iPhone’s sole modem supplier.
While the company still needs to diversify beyond its reliance on Apple, Kuo says, “by the time Apple succeeds and can replace Qualcomm, Qualcomm’s other new businesses should have grown enough to significantly offset the negative impacts caused by the order loss of iPhone 5G chips.”
