Did iPhone 16e Launch Just Give Apple "Wings"?
iPhone 16e is pricey, but Apple is likely counting this as a major win-win situation.
The Apple iPhone 16e is here and, at $599 it is an expensive smartphone. Yes, cheaper than the flagship iPhone 16, but much, much more expensive than the iPhone SE 3, which was priced at $429. Fan expectations were for a larger iPhone SE 4 with a justifiable price hike to about $499. That did not happen even though Apple well knew what its fans wanted. So, why was iPhone 16e launched?
Well, the biggest clue lies in its in-house modem. Unlike many other companies, Apple is not happy being dependent on any other company, or country, for parts. As Apple showed, it has the courage to take big and bold decisions when required. This it had show earlier by moving much of its manufacturing from China to India. It is now no longer fully dependent on China. It has hedged its risk and put its own destiny in its own hands.
In the same vein, Apple has been dependent on Qualcomm for a long time for its 5G modem chips. And now, with iPhone 16e's C1 modem chip, Apple has proved that it can roll out a flagship-level iPhone without the help of Qualcomm, thereby suitably bringing down its importance in the Apple ecosystem. Does that make the iPhone 16e just an experiment? A successful one though, sales apart.
These modems are important as they connect smartphones to the wireless data networks.
Now, the new Apple in-house modem will not set fire to any 5G speed tests, as its performance is not at par with Qualcomm's top products as it lacks mmWave 5G capability, which Qualcomm has. However, with Qualcomm contract with Apple expiring in 2027, Apple has made itself self-sufficient in one more critical part.
The journey for Apple will not be quick though. According to The Information, the successor to the C1 will not be able to offer mmWave capability next year either. It will be in 2027 that Apple will actually be able to beat Qualcomm in this respect. And that is the very year that Apple's contract with Qualcomm expires.
However, Apple may not be looking to wait that long for a truly-flagship iPhone level modem to come around. Apple will really be looking to ramp up this victory in its future iPhone rollouts.
Significantly, the Information says, as quoted by MacRumors, that Apple will launch a new modem that has mmWave 5G capability - in 2026! This modem will likely be used in iPhones!
Ultimately, for now, the very fact that it managed to roll out a fully-functioning, top-level smartphone with its own C1 modem is likely being celebrated by Apple execs.
Considering that only a few other companies actually have the capability of making these modem chips, the achievement must feel even sweeter, Notably, apart from Qualcomm, only a few top companies like MediaTek, Samsung and Huawei have it. And now Apple does.
Notably, the A18 chip along with the C1 modem and a boost to RAM and storage, 8GB and 128GB respectively, has made Apple Intelligence possible on the iPhone 16e too. Also, the C1 has made it possible for iPhone 16e to tout its massive battery-boosting prowess.
However, this move to move things in-house is not anything new. It had done the same to Intel's chips on Macs.
