Most of Apple's iPhone 17 lineup won't be using its new C1 modem, Ming-Chi Kuo claims, but they will still benefit from a new in-house Wi-Fi chip design.

Phone 17 5G modems will be made by MediaTek, as Apple moves away from Qualcomm. Future iPhones will use Apple's solutions instead.

Apple's first custom-designed modem chip, the C1, has finally made its debut in the iPhone 16e, which Apple announced on Wednesday. It's

Chi Kuo has an outstanding reputation and he believes that the rest of the iPhone 17 series will stick with the Snapdragon 5G modem chip. But The Information has a different story to tell. Instead, it believes that yes,

The iPhone 17, expected much later this year, is the next on the docket to show off Apple’s chip-making prowess. One of our favorite analyst-slash-tea-spillers, Ming-Chi Kuo, published the alleged details on Twitter/X:

Apple just launched its C1 chip, but there’s another new in-house chip coming later this year, reportedly for the full iPhone 17 lineup.

However, one notable omission from the C1’s feature set is support for ultra-fast mmWave 5G technology. Since Apple’s upcoming ultra-thin “ iPhone 17 Air ” is expected to use the C1, that means the 17 Air will lack mmWave 5G technology.

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.

Apple and Qualcomm's relationship has been strained for a decade and the iPhone 16e C1 chip is Apple's first move to cut ties once and for all.