Qualcomm CEO Didn’t Take Apple’s C1 Modem Seriously – It Only Made Android Smartphones Grow Bigger Than iPhone

The iPhone 16e recently debuted, the first Apple device to feature its own C1 modem, which the company has been working on for years. Before this, Apple had to rely entirely on Qualcomm modems, but in 2027, they will stop cooperating in this area. The head of Qualcomm insists that the brand’s modems will remain significantly faster than Apple’s own solutions.

Image source: Qualcomm Technologies

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon made the comments shortly after the company announced its new X85 modem, which uses artificial intelligence to improve connectivity in poor signal conditions. “This is going to create a big gap between the performance of flagship Android devices and iOS devices, if you compare what Qualcomm does to what Apple does,” Amon told CNBC. He believes that in the age of AI, all components will impact the user experience, and Qualcomm modems have a place in the market in this regard. “The X85 is the first modem that has so much AI that it increases the range of the modem’s performance, so it can deal with weaker signals,” Amon added.

The Snapdragon X85 that Amon is talking about is the company’s latest 5G modem, and it uses AI to boost signal strength and achieve unprecedented downlink speeds of up to 12.5 Gbps. And that does mean there’s a significant gap in peak performance compared to Apple’s C1 5G modem, allowing Qualcomm’s CEO to take a dig at the competing product.

What is characteristic is that Apple has limited the scope of application of its own C1 modem to the iPhone 16e smartphone, because the iPad tablets presented this week did not receive it, and therefore continue to rely on Qualcomm components. But, according to rumors, the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air smartphone, which will be released in September of this year, will also demonstrate the presence of a C1 modem of its own design. That is, in the coming years, Apple modems will evolve and spread across the products of this brand. The agreement between Apple and Qualcomm on the supply of modems is valid until March 2027.