Clearly, Apple wants to take control of the Wi-Fi chip supply chain. However, according to Digitimes, industry insiders pointed out that based on the current rumored progress and various technical limitations, Apple will face considerable challenges in launching a self-developed Wi-Fi chip in 2025.

It is rumored that Apple is also investing heavily in developing its own Wi-Fi chips as well as investing in 5G modem chips. However, the project encountered bottlenecks and was reportedly stalled for a time, and the team was reorganized. Coupled with Apple’s continued cooperation with Qualcomm in the development of 5G modem chips, it shows that overtaking in the field of wireless chips is not easy.

Industry insiders said that mainstream market companies such as Broadcom and Qualcomm have rich experience and patented technologies in the field of wireless connections. Whether it is wireless or wired network chips, the barriers to entry are very high.

Broadcom is still Apple’s main supplier of Wi-Fi chips. Therefore, the market view is that when Apple switches to self-developed Wi-Fi chips in 2025, Broadcom may bear the brunt of the impact. Despite this, the industry generally lacks confidence in Apple’s self-developed Wi-Fi chips. Broadcom is not only the leader in smartphone Wi-Fi, but also the leader in the entire Wi-Fi market. It is undoubtedly a huge challenge for Apple to surpass Broadcom’s products in such a short period of time.

Industry insiders in integrated circuit design pointed out that Apple’s wiser approach would be to first introduce self-developed chips into non-mainstream applications. However, from 5G modems to now Wi-Fi chips, all reports point to Apple bringing them directly to iPhones. As the backbone of Apple’s product line, the iPhone has no room for error.

In other words, Apple’s self-developed chips must achieve the same connectivity performance and power consumption as Broadcom and Qualcomm chips in order to avoid dragging down iPhone sales. This goal seems somewhat unrealistic.

Industry insiders believe that unless Apple can poach or form an elite team and invest huge resources in research and development, it will not be able to develop a viable wireless network chip in the short term. From another perspective, it is also questionable whether investing so much effort in non-core chips that can be obtained externally is more cost-effective than purchasing.

Market participants suggested that perhaps Apple should consider focusing its main resources on high-performance processor chips to ensure it remains competitive in the era of high-speed computing, rather than being distracted by various peripheral chips.

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News of Apple’s development of a Wi-Fi chip first appeared in January, when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple was working on a combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, with the goal of starting the transition to its own chip in 2024 and replacing Broadcom’s components by 2025.
The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips are separate from the 5G modem chip that Apple is also developing to replace technology from Qualcomm. Apple’s ultimate goal is to produce more of the iPhone’s key components in-house, reducing its reliance on third-party companies.

Ultimately, Apple wants to create a chip that combines cellular modem, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality in a triple play, and the company is also working to replace the RF chip and wireless charging chip it gets from Qualcomm.

Kuo revealed that Apple’s previously developed Wi-Fi solution was a Wi-Fi-only chip, rather than the rumored Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combo chip and that pairing the two technologies was more challenging for Apple from a design standpoint.

Development of the Wi-Fi chip has been suspended as Apple looks to focus its chip design resources on advanced 3nm chips that will support future iPhones and other devices, so the “lack of development resources” has delayed not only the development of Apple’s 5G chip, but also the progress of the Wi-Fi chip.

According to Kuo, Apple’s use of its own Wi-Fi chips will also be at risk over the next two to three years, as standards continue to change and Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 are being adopted. For now, Apple will begin to adopt Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 chips for its devices, from which Broadcom will continue to benefit.

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