Apple risks damaging the iPhone 16’s appeal with a controversial design choice.
Since the launch of the iPhone Pro, Apple has worked to create more space between the capabilities of the vanilla iPhone models and the Pro models. It’s a delicate balance that needs the iPhone Pro models to pick up the newest features and highest specifications while retaining value in the vanilla iPhone so it can justify its near-flagship starting price of $799.
Cellular connectivity will be the latest casualty in the quest for a specification gap.
Writing for Haitong International Securities, Apple analyst Jeff Pu reiterates Apple’s decision to bring Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X75 modem to the iPhone. This modem offers faster download and upload speeds over 5G while using less power and less space than the current X70 modem…But only if you buy the iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max. The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will face an effective downgrade, missing out on the latest technology.
This will be the first time Apple has split the modem technology over the two iPhone syles since the iPhone 12 family.
This isn’t the only modem issue Apple has to deal with. Apple has long-held ambitions to design and manufacture its own modems—including the purchase of Intel’s modem division in 2019 for $1 billion—but with little success. Late last year, Apple was forced to extend its deal with Qualcomm to supply iPhone modems until 2026.
The modem remains one part of the iPhone production chain that Apple has little control over. It will continue to work on an in-house solution, but it remains beholden to the company for the next few generations of the iPhone.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X70 5G has been a popular choice during 2023 for high-end and premium smartphones. The X75 is equipped in every Galaxy S24 handset, including the entry-level S24 with 128 GB. That model has broadly similar specs to the iPhone 15; both are available at $799.
With the Galaxy S24 offering a faster processor, improved connectivity, and a commitment to using AI to benefit the user experience, it’s arguably a better phone than the iPhone 15. If Apple downgrades the iPhone 16, which would give the iPhone 16 Pro a paper advantage thanks to its use of 2024’s default modem, then it gets harder to justify that $799 sticker price for the iPhone 16.
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