If you go by definition, Apple’s new C1 chip isn’t the sexiest thing in the world.
Per Apple, it’s “the first modem designed by Apple.” Given that all previous iPhones also had some sort of modem chip inside — for example, the iPhone 16 sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon X71M — it’s easy to overlook the C1 as just another chip that makes the iPhone do basic iPhone stuff like connecting to the internet.
But the Apple C1, which debuted in the company’s new iPhone 16e, could be a bigger deal than you think. Apple says that C1 contributes to the iPhone 16e’s “extraordinary battery life.”
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The C1 chip was actually a very complex endeavor. Speaking to Retuers, Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, said that that the baseband modem was manufactured with advanced 4-nanometer chipmaking technology, while the transceiver was made with 7-nanometer technology. It had to be tested with 180 carriers in 55 countries to make sure it works, well, everywhere.
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Indeed, the iPhone 16e beats the iPhone 16 in battery life by a large margin (up to 26 hours of video playback vs. the iPhone 16’s 22 hours of video playback), despite the two phones being roughly the same size.
Now, Apple sleuth Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple’s C1 chip will also be used for the rumored “slim iPhone 17.”
And while Apple rarely discusses future products or plans, the Srouji told Reuters that “C1 is the start.”
“We’re going to keep improving that technology each generation, so that it becomes a platform for us that will be used to truly differentiate this technology for our products,” he said. According to MacRumors, who quoted a source with a good track record as saying that Apple is already working on a C2 modem, which could be even more power efficient, as well as offer faster and more reliable 5G connectivity.
In practical terms, this could mean that Apple’s rumored slim iPhone 17 will have a longer battery life than one might expect given its thin profile. The rest of the iPhone 17 lineup will still feature Qualcomm modems according to Kuo, but in the future, Apple silicon might finally take iPhones to a place where you can forget to charge them overnight and still have battery left at the end of the next day.
