November 25, 2024

Apple to Debut In-House Wi-Fi 7 Chip with iPhone 17, Reducing Reliance on Broadcom [Kuo]

Posted October 31, 2024 at 2:46pm by iClarified · 2644 views
Apple is planning to debut an in-house Wi-Fi 7 chip with the iPhone 17, significantly reducing its reliance on Broadcom, according to a new report from TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

In a post on X, Kuo says that Apple plans to move all its products to the new chip within three years...

Broadcom currently supplies over 300 million Wi-Fi+BT chips (hereafter referred to as Wi-Fi chips) per year to Apple. However, Apple will rapidly reduce its reliance on Broadcom. With new products in 2H25 (e.g., iPhone 17), Apple plans to use its own Wi-Fi chips, which will be made by TSMC's N7 process and support the latest Wi-Fi 7 spec. Apple expects to move nearly all products to in-house Wi-Fi chips within about three years. This move will reduce costs and enhance Apple's ecosystem integration advantages.

Efforts to develop a Wi-Fi chip, alongside work on a 5G chip, have been ongoing at Apple for quite sometime. If today's report is accurate, we may see Apple debut both in 2025. The iPhone SE 4 is widely rumored to be first Apple device with an in-house 5G modem and it's expected to arrive in spring.

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