Apple might switch to in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips starting with next year’s iPhone 17. The company plans to fully transition to its custom Wi-Fi chips within three years after that.
Broadcom currently supplies Apple with more than 300 million Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules yearly for its products.
Apple to switch to its in-house Wi-Fi chip in H2, 2025
iPhones, Macs and iPads already benefit from the incredible power and efficiency of Apple silicon. To press its advantage, the company aims to produce as many of its own hardware components as possible.
Besides its in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules, Apple is also working on a custom 5G modem. Reports suggest it will debut with the iPhone SE 4 in H1 2025. A previous report claimed that Apple’s 5G modem will handle Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections. But that seemingly won’t be the case.
In a Thursday post on X, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted Apple will use its custom-developed Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips starting with the iPhone 17 in the second half of 2025. Fabricated on TSMC’s N7 node, it will support the Wi-Fi 7 standard. Other devices launching later in 2025 will also use the new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips.
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…
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) October 31, 2024
Apple purportedly plans to move its entire product roster to its in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips in the following three years. Apart from cost benefits, this move will help “enhance Apple’s ecosystem integration advantages,” Kuo said.
Apple’s switch to in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips will negatively affect Broadcom’s revenues, its current primary supplier.
Apple’s 5G and Wi-Fi chips are separate
The analyst also clarified that Apple’s 5G and Wi-Fi chips are separate and built on different TSMC nodes. Due to the difference in their production timeline, the 5G modem will launch first.
Rumors point to the iPhone 17 “Slim” being among the first devices to launch with this combination. Other iPhone 17 models presumably will stick to Qualcomm modems.
