Apple's Still Trying to Ditch Qualcomm (Again)

Apple's been trying to dump Qualcomm since like 2018 and keeps screwing it up. They've had multiple false starts with custom modems that either didn't work properly or had thermal issues. Remember when they had to delay iPhone releases because their modem prototypes weren't ready? I heard from people who worked on those projects - they had to scrap entire chip designs because they couldn't get them working right.

So what are they actually working on now? Rumor is they want future iPhones to have all custom chips for the important stuff. No more Qualcomm modems, no more licensing fees to companies they don't control. Everything would be Apple silicon, including whatever AI processing they're building into their next-gen chips.

Apple keeps claiming they'll deliver "MacBook Pro class performance" for AI stuff on phones. I've heard this marketing speak before - they always find some benchmark that makes their chips look amazing. But maybe this time is different since they'd control the whole stack instead of dealing with Qualcomm's constraints.

The modem part is what's actually interesting. If Apple can make custom modems that use way less power than Qualcomm's and support features Qualcomm couldn't be bothered with, that would be huge. iPhone battery life has sucked compared to Android flagships for years.

But here's the thing - all these AI features they want to build hardware for? Most of them don't actually work yet. Apple barely talks about AI because their software is still months behind what Google and Samsung already shipped.

Classic Apple - they'll probably build this fancy chip architecture for AI features that basically don't exist yet. Hardware team delivers something impressive, software team is still figuring out what to do with it.

Apple's chip thing goes beyond just design - they want to manufacture in America without screwing up their entire supply chain. TSMC is building fabs in Arizona, but those won't be ready for cutting-edge stuff until like 2028 or something. Meanwhile, Apple's current chips are still made in Taiwan using whatever the latest process is.

The politics are complicated as hell. There's pressure to move manufacturing to the US, but realistically, if you want the most advanced chips, Taiwan is still where it happens. TSMC Arizona might eventually make decent chips, but they'll be doing older generation stuff for years.

What Apple supposedly needs to figure out is the cooling. iPhones already throttle performance when they get hot, and adding more AI processing will just make that worse. Previous iPhones slow down after heavy use - anyone who's tried gaming on an iPhone knows this pain. If they're adding dedicated AI hardware, they better figure out how to keep it cool.

The timing is rough though. By the time Apple gets their manufacturing figured out, Meta and Google will have shipped their next generation of AI devices. Apple's betting that controlling everything will matter more than being first, but that's risky when their software is already behind.

Intel keeps saying they're going to compete with their new process, but they've been promising that for years. I'll believe it when they actually ship something that doesn't suck. For now, Apple's basically stuck with TSMC whether they like it or not.