In-depth analysis of Apple's iPhone 16, a mysterious chip that baffles many netizens

Before the release of the iPhone 16 series, Jeff Pu and other overseas sources all indicated that Apple would make a move on the baseband -

The iPhone 16/Plus will be equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 modem, while the Pro/Max will upgrade to the X75.

However, on September 20th, TechInsights published an article stating that upon disassembly, the iPhone 16 uses the Qualcomm SDX71M baseband.

Neither X70 nor X75, this baseband chip named "SDX71M" left many netizens puzzled, as it appeared out of thin air, never mentioned in any leaks before.

Some netizens tried to dig out information about this model, but to no avail.

What exactly is this SDX71M? Let's discuss.

01.

What is SDX71M?

The true identity of this SDX71M has sparked heated discussions among netizens, with two speculations:

A custom X75 product specially made for Apple by Qualcomm;

A rebranded X70.

Regarding the first speculation, some IT enthusiasts do not agree, pointing out that the RF chip on the iPhone 16 is labeled as SDR735.

If it were a product of the same generation as X75, it should use SDR753/SDR875, so it doesn't make sense.

As for the second speculation, two pieces of information seem to prove that the two baseband chips are not the same.

Firstly, some users checked the official website and found that compared to the iPhone 15, the iPhone 16 lacks support for the TD-LTE B46 band.

This means that the X71M lacks support for a band compared to the X70.

Secondly, through actual testing, the network speed performance of the iPhone 16 series is better than that of the iPhone 15 series.

Speed testing platform Speedsmart released a blog post on September 11th, stating that the iPhone 16 Pro, with its new modem, has up to 26% faster 5G download speeds compared to the previous generation.

Early test results showed that under the networks of the three major carriers in the United States, the 5G download speeds of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max increased by an average of 23.7% Among them, Verizon's 5G download speed saw the largest increase, reaching 26.4%, followed by AT&T and T-Mobile, with significant improvements in upload speeds for all three carriers.

Considering that it is rare for products of the same generation to see such a significant improvement, it is difficult to equate X71M with X70.

In conclusion, as of now, there is still no exact information about the SDX71M. After checking the Qualcomm official website's "Modem and RF Systems" product database, its presence has not been found.

Perhaps the mystery shrouding this chip can only be revealed in the future.

02.

Why not use X75?

In addition to this mysterious SDX71M, there is another question: why doesn't the iPhone 16 use the latest X75 baseband?

As early as February last year, Qualcomm released the Snapdragon X75 5G modem and RF system, claiming it to be the world's first "5G Advanced-ready" baseband product.

Supporting ten-carrier aggregation, achieving 10Gbps downlink speed in Wi-Fi 7 and 5G, it has already been used in multiple Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 models.

In recent generations of iPhones, Apple always arranges for the latest X series baseband, such as the iPhone 15, which is equipped with the Snapdragon X70 across the entire lineup.

Therefore, the iPhone 16 should have been equipped with the X75, but it wasn't used, which seems unusual.

Some speculate that Apple intentionally did not use the latest X75, to minimize the gap when their self-developed baseband is introduced.

Another speculation is that, just like before the launch of the M1, Intel Macs were still in use.

Although these are just speculations, one striking term caught the attention —— self-developed baseband.

According to earlier rumors, this year will be Apple's last year relying entirely on Qualcomm's baseband. They will introduce products with self-developed 5G basebands next year and gradually use them in more products until completely breaking away from dependence on Qualcomm.

In early September, Ming-Chi Kuo shared a forecast report on Apple's self-developed 5G baseband expansion plan for the coming years.

According to him, Apple's 5G baseband is expected to start small-scale shipments from 2025 and see significant growth in 2026 and 2027 He expects Apple's self-developed 5G baseband shipments to reach 35-40 million units in 2025, 90-110 million units in 2026, and 160-180 million units in 2027. This trend will have a significant impact on Qualcomm's 5G chip shipments and patent licensing sales.

When it comes to models using self-developed 5G chips, he believes it will be the iPhone SE 4 to be launched in the first half of next year, and the brand-new model iPhone 17 Air to be unveiled in the second half of the year.

In fact, since last year, analysts such as Guo Mingji have revealed that Apple will launch iPhone models equipped with self-developed 5G basebands in 2025.

Moreover, all sources of information are consistent, with the initial launch responsibility given to the iPhone SE 4.

According to Guo Mingji, Apple plans to first deploy its self-developed 5G baseband on the SE 4. If successful, it will be applied to the mainline iPhones to be released in 2025 or 2026.

However, according to DigiTimes, Apple's first self-developed 5G baseband has a drawback — it does not support millimeter wave technology.

This means that Apple may continue to rely on its existing 5G chip supplier Qualcomm to provide 5G chips for iPhone models that support millimeter wave.

03.

Self-developed 5G baseband is a challenge

However, despite various signs indicating that Apple's self-developed 5G baseband will officially debut next year with the iPhone SE 4, some netizens are not very optimistic.

The reason for this is that Apple has been delaying its self-developed 5G baseband for several years, and has been plagued by negative rumors.

As early as 2019, Apple acquired most of Intel's smartphone baseband business and started developing 5G basebands.

Initially, according to Apple's plan, the goal was to launch self-developed 5G chips in the fall of 2023, but subsequent delays pushed it to 2024 and 2025.

Although Apple has never canceled the 5G baseband development project, it has indeed faced difficulties and multiple delays in its progress.

Regarding the specific development situation, Guerlain once revealed that Apple's self-developed 5G baseband chip is still in the early stages and may lag behind competitors by "several years".

It is reported that Apple's current self-developed baseband does not support mmWave technology, mainly facing 2 challenges:

The first is the legacy code from Intel, which Apple needs to rewrite, and adding new features may disrupt existing functions;

The second is to be cautious in bypassing Qualcomm's patents during the chip development process An Apple employee said: "We took over a failed project from Intel, and we blindly believed that we could succeed."

It is said that Apple's hardware technology department is "struggling" among many projects, with resources not being allocated to it, making it difficult to rectify mistakes.

Will we see the emergence of Apple's self-developed 5G baseband next year? At least for now, there is still a question mark.

04.

2025, a Crucial Year

Year after year, so many years, it has been 5 years since Apple started developing 5G baseband chips, but to this day, there is still no sign of it.

In the same boat as the 5G baseband is the self-developed Wi-Fi chip. After project stagnation and team restructuring, Apple also plans to deliver results next year.

With one wired network chip and one wireless network chip, both facing extremely high technological barriers, how Apple will overcome them is indeed a challenge.

In the not-so-distant 2025, will it become a crucial year for Apple's two new self-developed chips