While Apple is aiming to reduce its reliance on third-party suppliers by manufacturing more in-house components, the company has halted the development of its in-house Wi-Fi chip project, the media has reported.
According to a new semiconductor survey by famed Apple analyst of TF International Securities, Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone maker will backtrack on its Wi-Fi chip development and will continue to depend on American semiconductor major Broadcom as its key supplier.
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“Apple has halted developing its own Wi-Fi chips; Broadcom is the biggest winner of the iPhone 15’s upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E and the leading beneficiary of the Wi-Fi industry-standard upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E/7 with higher ASP,” Kuo tweeted.
Earlier, several investors were concerned that Apple’s decision to manufacture its own Wi-Fi chip will affect Broadcom’s Wi-Fi chip business. However, my latest semiconductor industry survey (foundry, equipment, and packaging and testing) indicates that Apple has halted the development of its own Wi-Fi chip for a while, Kuo wrote.
According to Kuo, Apple’s previous development for Wi-Fi solution was the Wi-Fi-only chip and not the Wi-Fi+Bluetooth combo chip. However, from a design standpoint, developing a Wi-Fi+Bluetooth combo chip is more challenging than just a Wi-Fi-only chip. Since most of Apple’s products use the combo chipset, it would be even more challenging to replace Broadcom’s combo chips with its own if Apple decides to do so.
Meanwhile, Apple is mulling to shift from Samsung and LG and make its own custom displays for devices by as early as 2024, a recent report said. The tech giant is aiming to start changing the display in the highest-end Apple Watches by the end of 2024, news agency Bloomberg had reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
China’s BOE has secured the initial order for the upcoming iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus and the Apple display supplier may potentially overtake Samsung as the iPhone’s largest display provider by 2024.