Apple will use its own modem chip by 2025, and Qualcomm will face competition from Huawei: According to Ming-Chi Kuo

According to reports, Apple will begin using its own 5G modem chip in iPhone models around 2025. According to TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a reasonably excellent track record of anticipating Apple hardware development, the firm may minimize its reliance on third-party component suppliers, including Qualcomm. The chipmaker is also expected to face competition from Huawei, which recently introduced new phones equipped with self-developed Kirin 9000S and additional Kirin CPUs slated to debut in phones in 2024.

In a Medium article, Kuo believes that Qualcomm will not only lose Huawei's chip business entirely by 2024, but will also experience a drop in shipments to other Chinese smartphone makers. According to the analyst, the phone maker ordered up to 42 million chips from Qualcomm last year, with the amount increasing to 25 million in 2022. According to Kuo, the business would launch a pricing war in China by Q4 2023 in order to maintain its market position.

Aside from Huawei, the likelihood of Samsung utilizing its own Exynos 2400 processor for its phones in 2024 will have an influence on Qualcomm, according to Kuo. Apple has also been rumored to employ its own modem chip for future iPhone generations, which might happen by 2025, according to the expert.

It's not the first time Apple has been rumored to be switching to a proprietary Apple 5G modem. In April, Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu said that Apple has resumed development of the fourth-generation iPhone SE, which would have the Cupertino company's rumored in-house 5G modem chip.

Earlier this year, Kuo projected that an iPhone SE model will be released next year using a 5G processor designed by Apple, and he stated that "the significant decline in Qualcomm's Apple orders in the foreseeable future is a foregone conclusion."

The expert said at the time that the rumored iPhone SE 4 will come in 2024 with Apple's 5G baseband chip made using a 4nm technology. Kuo then revised his forecast to align with Pu's assertion that Apple's in-house 5G modem may appear on an iPhone in 2025.