Apple has finally unveiled the new iPhone SE. Scratch that, the SE lineup is presumably dead and the latest member of the iPhone family is dubbed the iPhone 16e.
Designed to offer the best of the iPhone 16 series at a slightly more affordable price, the iPhone 16e brings a host of features found on its sibling devices, but it also brings something entirely new: it’s the first iPhone with the Apple C1 modem.
Apple has been building its modem for almost seven years, and while we first expected it to launch many years ago, the endeavor faced many early challenges. Instead of a roaring success — and presumably burned by the signal issues that plagued the iPhone 4 — remember the antenna gate? — Apple struck successive agreements with Qualcomm to power the modems inside the latest iPhone.
This approach has worked so far, but Apple was always likely to continue building its modem, and presumably, the iPhone 16e is just the first iPhone to feature it. This makes the iPhone 16e crucial to the success of future iPhones, and several Apple supplier relationships, here’s why.
The past and present of the Apple C1
To understand the past of the C1, you need to trace the history of Apple back almost a decade to the now-infamous legal wars with Qualcomm. Apple wanted to break away from its reliance on Qualcomm and sued the company in 2017 over what it claimed were excessive patent fees.
Two years later, the two companies settled and announced a multi-year partnership for Qualcomm to provide 5G modems for the latest iPhones. Although that partnership is still active — and has been extended until 2027 — Apple clearly showed its future intentions by acquiring Intel’s smartphone modem business and thousands of engineers just months after the Qualcomm agreement in 2019. We first expected Apple’s in-house modem to launch two years ago, but the extension of the Qualcomm agreement suggested Apple had underestimated the task of building its own 5G modems.
Two months ago we heard that Apple was planning a phased approach to its modems, with the first product launching this year. The C1 inside the iPhone 16e isn’t expected to meet the current Qualcomm X75 modem used inside the iPhone 16 series, but this phased approach will likely work in Apple’s favor.
Why it’s smart to launch the C1 in the iPhone 16e
Apple hasn’t officially confirmed it — and the company almost certainly won’t — but all signs point to the Apple C1 modem struggling to meet the speeds, reliability, and signal reception found on the Qualcomm modem used by other iPhones. If that proves to be the case, launching with the iPhone 16e is bound to be the best business decision we’ll see this year.
The iPhone 16e launches at $599, and as the iPhone 14 and iPhone SE series have both been discontinued, it is now the cheapest way to get one of Apple’s latest phones with Apple Intelligence. If the modem inside fails to live up to the rest of the iPhone series, it’s easy to blame this on it being an affordable device.
Consider the alternative: Apple waited and launched the C1 inside the iPhone 17 series, including the rumored iPhone 17 Air. The potential for a PR nightmare, and another antenna gate aside, this move would also represent a huge problem as the C1 is not designed to be a flagship chipset. There’s no mmWave support which would likely frustrate US carrier partners. Unless the speeds and reliability were as strong as the best modems inside other flagships, Apple likely also has to contend with an impact on its share price.
Instead, the iPhone 16e is a proving ground that will either see Apple go all-in on its modem efforts, or sign yet another agreement with Qualcomm.
Why Apple wants an in-house modem
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Apple wants a modem that it has made in-house. One of the key benefits of the new iPhone 16e is a reported 26-hour battery life, and the modem plays a part in helping Apple achieve this goal.
Apple Silicon showed that the company is capable of excellent vertical integration between all its components, and the benefits of doing so are considerably more than sticking with the status quo. Apple Silicon brought outstanding performance, battery, and efficiency benefits to all Macs and helped usher in the ARM-based computing era that has seen Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD also launch competitors.
It’s not just Apple Silicon: Apple has a track record of achievements when it focuses on vertical integration between its components. The iPhone uses a smaller battery and less RAM than the best Android phones that aim to compete with it, but achieves similar results. Apple is presumably aiming for similar benefits by operating its own modem, and the two that come to mind are battery life and connectivity.
Battery life will almost certainly be considerably improved. Yes, we don’t know how much by, but if the iPhone 16e is any indication, Apple’s in-house modem could be crucial to achieving a marked improvement in iPhone battery life.
At first, I would expect connectivity to be inferior to Qualcomm-powered iPhones, but the iPhone 16e will show how important features like mmWave are to consumers and to Apple’s carrier partners. In particular, will future iPhones still support mmWave? Could Apple launch a flagship without this high-speed 5G technology? There are many unknowns — especially as we’re yet to test the C1 inside the iPhone 16e — but in the years to come, this could prove to be as consequential as the Apple Silicon launch.
Why the iPhone 16e is crucial to Apple… and Qualcomm
The company likely to be most impacted by the launch of the iPhone 16e is its current modem supplier. Qualcomm has been diversifying its business interests for many years — and the Snapdragon Cockpit is stunning — but the modem business still plays a key part in the company’s overall outlook.
It’s clear why the success of the iPhone 16e is crucial to Apple, but I suspect it’s also crucial to Qualcomm. The company won’t say it publicly, but I would expect that its best-case scenario is an outcome that pushes Apple’s modem project back a few years. The worst case? The C1 modem has the same effect as Apple Silicon and hastens a faster shift for future iPhones.
Regardless of what happens with the iPhone 16e as a phone, it could prove to be crucial for the future of more than just the iPhone. I can’t wait to see how it performs with pre-orders launching tomorrow ahead of its general release on February 28.
