for several years Apple It has been trying to move away from using Qualcomm solutions in its smartphones with efforts to develop its own modem, but now Bloomberg reports that iPhone SE next spring will begin a three-year cycle that will lead to branded modems appearing not only in iPhones but also in Mac computers and Vision Pro augmented reality devices.

Engineers and designers, as Bloomberg explains Apple They have long complained about the features of the layout of Qualcomm modems and related parts that take up too much space in the iPhone case. The in-house modem, codenamed Sinope, is more tightly integrated with Apple’s other proprietary components, so it takes up less space and uses less power, the source said.

Apple was the first to try such a modem it developed itself iPhone SEIt will be released in spring 2025. Later, the thinnest smartphone Apple has ever created will appear in the iPhone 17 family and will also be equipped with a new special modem. The thickness of the case of the smartphone with the traditional name D23 will be reduced by almost 2 mm compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, while a fairly capacious battery and a good set of cameras will be preserved. In the future, the presence of a modem that allows you to reduce the thickness of the device body will allow Apple to create complex smartphones or tablets.

At most for the first time, a local modem may appear in Mac computers. They will no longer rely solely on the Wi-Fi interface or cable connection to access the network. However, the appearance of the cellular modem in the Mac series is still planned for early 2026, because by then Apple hopes to create the second generation modem, which will be characterized by higher data transfer speeds. In the first generation, the Apple modem will not support operation in the millimeter range. Additionally, while frequency aggregation was only possible from four communications operators, Qualcomm solutions now allow six or more resources to be used simultaneously. Internal testing showed Sinope provides data transfer speeds of up to 4 Gbps; Qualcomm’s fastest 5G modem currently offers speeds of up to 10 Gbps.

Apple’s own modem should support simultaneous activity of two SIM cards in a single device, and it will be produced by Taiwan’s TSMC on the company’s order. The second generation of Apple modems received the conditional name Ganymede, it will be included in the iPhone 18 line of smartphones in 2026, and will reach the iPad a year later. In the second generation, the Apple modem will receive support for millimeter range and frequency aggregation from six to eight operators.

The self-developed modem will eventually take on Apple’s augmented reality devices, and we’re not just talking about the Vision Pro headset here, but also the hypothetical lighter glasses the company still hopes to develop. Entry-level iPad tablet models will receive Apple’s own modem (first generation) next year, but the 2026 modem will be included in Pro versions of the iPad and iPhone. The only type of device that hasn’t yet received a self-developed modem, according to Apple’s plan, is the Apple Watch.

Apple expects to complete the transition to the use of self-developed modems across all of its device lines by 2027. In 2027, the third generation Apple modem called Prometheus will appear, it will receive modern functions of working with artificial intelligence and satellite communication networks. Apple also plans to integrate the modem unit into the central processor in the future. So far, cooperation with Apple allows Qualcomm to receive approximately 20% of all revenues from this company.