Apple has “stopped developmentof its own WiFi chip that was meant to replace Broadcom’s in its devices “for a while,” according to Ming-Chi Kuo. The prominent analyst explained in a Medium post which is basing this report on its latest survey of the semiconductor industry’s foundries, equipment, packaging and testing. If you remember, Bloomberg reported Earlier this month, the tech giant was working on its own wireless chips intended for devices slated for release in 2025. While Apple has yet to confirm the report, it’s not exactly hard to believe: The tech giant has been taking action. to design and manufacture more in-house components to lessen their reliance on outside companies.
Kuo said Apple has chosen to devote most of its resources to developing its next-generation A-series and M-series processors. That way, it can ensure that processors for its iPhones, iPads and MacBooks can break into production in the next two years. The analyst also explained that it is riskier for Apple to use its own WiFi chips at a time when companies are switching their devices to WiFi 6E. “Broadcom will be the big winner” in this situation, he said, as the iPhone 15 is expected to feature the new WiFi standard that allows access to the 6GHz band.
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Apple has stopped developing its own Wi-Fi chips; Broadcom is the biggest winner of the iPhone 15 upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E and the top beneficiary of the industry-standard upgrade from Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi 6E/7 with higher ASP.https://t.co/XEZ0bVV8A8—Ming-Chi Kuo (@mingchikuo) January 26, 2023
While it’s unclear if Apple will ever release its own WiFi chip, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said the company’s wireless chipset ambition isn’t entirely dead. In Kuo’s Twitter thread about the report, Gurman intervened and said the tech giant is still working on a WiFi-Bluetooth combo chip. Gurman previously said that the tech giant is also working on a chip that combines Bluetooth, cellular and WiFi in a single component, but did not say if that one is still in development.
When Information published an article last week saying that Apple is working on a cheaper mixed reality headset, one of its sources claimed that the device could use the company’s in-house WiFi and Bluetooth chipset. That would allow Apple to keep costs and the ultimate retail price of the device low, since it wouldn’t have to deal with price demands from an outside company.
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