Apple Could Skip The C2 Cellular Modem And Directly Introduce The C3
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Apple recently introduced the iPhone 16e with its own in-house C1 modem. The Cupertino tech giant has high hopes for its first 5G modem. Soon after the launch of the iPhone 16e, reports started emerging that Apple was already working on the C2 cellular modem. Now, a tipster from China claims that Apple may skip a generation of its modems and release its next in-house modem in 2027.
The successor to the Apple C1 will reportedly be the C3 instead of the C2
According to the reliable Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station, Apple will debut its next in-house C3 modem with the 2027 iPhone models. The news comes as a surprise as there are reports that Apple is already designing and testing the C2 cellular modem. It appears that Apple isn’t actually just naming the C1’s successor the C3. The company is apparently not going to launch the C2 model on its commercial devices for the public at all, suggests the tipster.
There could be many reasons why Apple may not launch the C2 modem. There’s a possibility that the C2 is just an internal test chip and the company is experimenting with different configurations on it. Also, the Apple C2 cellular modem isn’t turning out particularly well. So, the company may have decided to bin the C2 modem and fast-track the development of the C3 instead.
Another reason for the new strategy could be that Apple thinks that naming the C1’s successor C3 instead of C2 will signify the brand’s greater generational leap from the predecessor. This could be just purely for marketing purposes only, similar to modem chip measurements in nanometers.
The iPhone 17 Air could also ship with the C1 modem
If we believe the reports, the upcoming iPhone 17 Air will also ship with the Apple C1 modem. The other iPhone 17 models in this year’s lineup will still rely on modem chips from third-party manufacturers. It seems that using the C1 model may be the only way for the company to make the iPhone 17 Air as slim as possible or it may be just for cutting the production prices.
According to Apple analyst Mark Gurman, Apple’s second-generation 5G modem will debut in the iPhone 18 in 2026 and the iPad Pro models by 2027. Furthermore, Gurman claimed that the next-gen Apple modem will compete with Qualcomm’s offerings in current iPhones by adding support for the ultra-fast 5G standard known as mmWave, which isn’t available on the C1 modem. Since there’s no official confirmation at the moment, it is advisable to take the aforementioned information with a grain of salt.
