Apple’s ambitions with its custom C1 5G modem running in the iPhone 16e do not stop with the first iteration, as the company is already reported to be testing the C2. There is still a ton of information that is yet to be unearthed, but eagle-eyed personnel who disassembled Apple’s latest $599 handset discovered that its in-house baseband sub-system completely replaces the Snapdragon X71 running in the iPhone 16 series. Additionally, other discoveries have been made, which we will dive into straight away.
With the C1 sporting the same package structure as the Snapdragon X71 5G modem, Apple’s in-house solution and DRAM are integrated into that same package
We have previously reported that the iPhone 16e delivers the best battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone, and part of that has to do with the improved lithography of the C1. Relying on TSMC’s 4nm and 7nm technologies to fabricate the modem and transceiver, the home-grown solution likely exudes better power efficiency than the Snapdragon X71, but there is more information that we have stumbled across, thanks to iFixit. Upon closer inspection, we found that there are no remnants of the Snapdragon X71 present anywhere on the iPhone 16e, as the C1 sub-system has entirely replaced it.
This difference might explain why the iPhone 16e lacks mmWave support, but what is interesting is that the C1 maintains the same package structure as the Snapdragon X71 that integrates the 4nm modem with the DRAM. This approach helps to conserve valuable space while also contributing to improved efficiency. Another discovery was that the 7nm transceivers are not present on the same package as the modem, but no reason was provided for this approach. However, based on previous reports, Apple could integrate both of these components in a single package in the coming years.
Given that Apple took years to develop the C1 and bring it to the iPhone 16e despite having years of experience under its belt developing a series of chipsets, there could be a wave of complications that we did not hear about. This reason may also lead to more information being exhumed about the baseband chip, so we will advise our readers to wait for more updates in the coming weeks.
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