iPhone 16 Pro Expected to Support '5G Advanced' With Qualcomm's Snapdragon X75 Modem (2024)

Thursday October 12, 2023 12:13 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple's next-generation iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with Qualcomm's latest cellular modem, according to technology analyst Jeff Pu, enabling faster and more power efficient 5G connectivity for the devices.

In a research note this week with investment firm Haitong International Securities, Pu said the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X75 modem. However, he expects the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus to retain the Snapdragon X70 modem used for the entire iPhone 15 lineup. Apple has typically used the same Qualcomm modem across all models for each generation of iPhones, excluding the low-end iPhone SE, so this would be a change in strategy for the company.

Announced in February 2023, the Snapdragon X75 features improved carrier aggregation and other technology advancements for faster 5G download and upload speeds compared to the X70. The modem's combined mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G transceiver takes up 25% less circuit board space, and uses up to 20% less power, according to The Verge.

The Snapdragon X75 also supports the latest "5G Advanced" standard, which is described as "the next phase of 5G" and an "evolution towards 6G." 5G Advanced will include artificial intelligence and machine learning enhancements for improved 5G performance, and it will also expand 5G to additional types of devices and use cases.

Apple is likely to market the iPhone 16 Pro models as featuring "5G Advanced," much like the iPhone 6s gained support for "LTE Advanced" in 2015.

Apple is rumored to have been working on its own 5G modem for iPhones since 2018, but the project has reportedly faced development challenges, and the modem is not expected to be announced until 2025 or later should it ever materialize. In the meantime, Apple extended its 5G modem agreement with Qualcomm through 2026.

Apple should announce the iPhone 16 lineup in September 2024, so there is still plenty of time remaining until the devices launch.

Related Roundups: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro

Tags: Jeff Pu, Qualcomm

[ 147 comments ]

Top Rated Comments

skiguy45

19 weeks ago

5G has been the biggest dud in recent tech memory. I'm not saying it's not an improvement, but it was marketed as a game changer and it certainly doesn't seem to have lived up to that billing.

Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)

contacos

19 weeks ago

5G is already such a fraud here because the speed simply depends on your plan and on average its still only LTE speed here in Germany so this won't be much use to me

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

19 weeks ago

5G has been the biggest dud in recent tech memory. I'm not saying it's not an improvement, but it was marketed as a game changer and it certainly doesn't seem to have lived up to that billing.

That’s a bit of an overstatement. I agree the first year on att and Verizon, we didn’t see a whole lot of improvement. T-mobile was ahead due to deployment of their n41 band from acquiring sprint. But just 2-3 months ago att and Verizon got access to their entire midband spectrum and speeds have gone from 150-180 at best to 500-800 down on average. I actually achieved 2.3gbs download speed on Verizon c-band not long ago. Many areas easily exceed 1gb down. I haven’t even mentioned mmWave which reaches 4+gbs down. So to say 5G was a dud would be an inaccurate statement based on facts. Perhaps you’re in a bad rural area then your point is valid but for a huge % of the country speeds are exponentially faster. And they will improve in rural areas, it takes time.

And to those who point out the speeds Ive described are pointless; for 1 single customer that’s somewhat true, but what those speeds represent is capacity. Data usage increases by a large % every year. So increasing capacity is exactly what we need.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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