Apple spent years developing C1 modem for iPhone 16e only to not talk about it

The iPhone 16E is official now and along with a new design, faster chip, better camera, and AI, the phone also flaunts Apple's first in-house modem, the C1. That's no small feat, but Apple doesn't seem satisfied with the result.

As Bloomberg's Mark Gurman notes, Apple hardly even talked about the C1. That stands in sharp contrast to the airtime given to its M-series and A-series chips. Not much was said about the 5G modem in the press release either.

Considering this endeavor took seven years and billions of dollars, you'd expect Apple to show a little more enthusiasm.

Every other iPhone in Apple's lineup uses Qualcomm-made components. And even though Apple has finally made its cellular chip, it will reportedly take another year before it fully replaces Qualcomm's chip. According to an earlier report, the rumored iPhone 17 Air will be the only other model this year to use the C1. Next year, the Pro variants will also be equipped with it.

This signals that Qualcomm's part is superior, which is also evident by the fact that the new iPhone doesn't support the faster mmWave technology.

When talking about the iPhone 16e, Apple focused more on the C1's power efficiency than its specs or connectivity features.

Apple doesn't want much attention on the modem. Apparently, Apple believes that the 2027 version will be better than Qualcomm's offering, which might be why it has chosen to downplay it.

As with any first-generation product, the modem may have issues. Since a modem is such an integral part of a phone, any shortcomings in it could lead to missed calls and notifications. That explains why the C1 debuted on the iPhone 16e: even with a higher starting price of $599, it's the cheapest phone in the lineup. Customers who buy the phone may be more forgiving of any connectivity issues than buyers of Pro models.

That said, the home-brewed component will also have many advantages over a Qualcomm modem, such as better integration with the A18 chip.