Apple's next-gen C3 5G modem rumor: 2027, same year its licensing agreement ends with Qualcomm

Apple's new in-house C1 modem is inside of the new iPhone 16e, with reports that the next-gen C2 modem is in testing and that the future-gen C3 modem will be launching in 2027.

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Apple has a licensing agreement with Qualcomm until 2027 where it is bound to use the company's 5G modems, but Apple has been working on in-house 5G modems for a while now, and that came to fruition with the new budget-focused iPhone 16e smartphone.

But in a new post on Weibo, leaker Digital Chat Station didn't say that Apple's new C3 modem is under development (but it would be), rather noting that the company will be launching its next-gen in-house 5G modem in 2027, the same year its licensing agreement with Qualcomm ends. I'd say at that point, Apple will flood the market with iPhones powered by its own in-house C3 modem.

Apple's entire fleet of iPhones -- apart from the new iPhone 16e -- feature Snapdragon 5G modems, while its next-gen iPhone 17 is expected to continue that trend, and not use its in-house 5G modem. Why? Because Apple's new C1 modem doesn't have mmWave support, where Qualcomm does with its Snapdragon X71 modem inside of the iPhone 16.

• Read more: Apple's new C1 inside of the iPhone 16e: the company's first in-house 5G modem

Digital Chat Station said: "Apple's next-generation self-developed chip C3 is tentatively scheduled to debut in 2027. One generation every 25 years and one generation every 27 years. This time node is quite interesting. It seems that self-developed chips that have just started to enter new fields are more suitable for generational updates".