It is widely known that Apple, in the past, refrained from developing its own modem chips, focusing solely on the A-series chips and relying on external modem chips instead.

At first, Apple teamed up with Qualcomm, incorporating Qualcomm's modem chips into its devices. However, Apple grew resentful towards Qualcomm due to its high earnings, as Qualcomm not only charged for the chips but also collected royalties based on a percentage of the entire device's price, which reached a staggering $7.2 billion in 2022.

Subsequently, Apple shifted its allegiance to Intel, adopting Intel's modem chips.

However, Intel failed to deliver, being unable to develop a 5G modem chip. Consequently, Apple had no alternative but to once again yield to Qualcomm and revert to using Qualcomm's 5G modem chips.

Nonetheless, at that juncture, Apple resolved to develop its own modem chips and eliminate its reliance on Qualcomm. To achieve this goal, Apple acquired Intel's modem chip team and related businesses for $1 billion at the end of 2019 and embarked on self-development.

But truth be told, developing modem chips is no easy feat. After four or five years of effort, Apple finally succeeded in developing the C1 modem chip the year before last.

This modem chip delivered mediocre performance and lacked support for millimeter-wave technology. When officially commercially used in the iPhone 16e, the performance gap with Qualcomm's X70 (10Gbps) became apparent.

It was not until last year, with the iPhoneAir, that Apple transitioned to the upgraded C1X, which could barely rival Qualcomm's modem chips and exhibited improved performance.

This development left Qualcomm somewhat alarmed. Over the years, Qualcomm has been warning of impending competition, believing as early as two years ago that Apple would develop its own modem chips and subsequently abandon Qualcomm.

And by 2026, this scenario might indeed materialize.

During Apple's product launch, we observed that the iPhone 18 Pro/Max and the iPhone 18 DUO, these three models in total, have all forsaken Qualcomm's chips and opted for Apple's self-developed C2 modem chips.

The C2 modem, built on TSMC's 4nm process, represents Apple's inaugural self-developed 5G modem, supporting both millimeter-wave and Sub-6GHz dual bands, as well as satellite internet connectivity. According to Apple, compared to the C1X, the C2 boasts significantly faster upload speeds, with a 50% increase in upload speed and a 15% reduction in energy consumption.

Simultaneously, when paired with Apple's own A20 Pro, the C2 can further enhance energy efficiency performance and bolster signal stability in weak network environments.

Evidently, starting with this generation of phones, Apple is officially bidding adieu to Qualcomm and fully embracing its self-developed 5G modem chips.

Considering that Qualcomm currently generates tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue from Apple, and this revenue stream is now drying up, I anticipate that Qualcomm will devise strategies to counter this, such as causing trouble for Apple through patent disputes. After all, with such a substantial loss of revenue, can Qualcomm simply accept it?