It was already suspected that the iPhone 15 would not have an Apple modem. And now it is almost certain that the iPhone 16, iPhone 17, and iPhone 18 will not be equipped with one either.

The day before Apple's September 12 event, Qualcomm announced that it had reached an agreement to continue supplying Apple with Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF systems. The agreement covers modems for cell phones to be released in 2024, 2025, and 2026.

In recent years, Apple has been rumored to be working on its own modem to provide connectivity for the iPhone. Apple tries to design its phones in-house as much as possible, as evidenced by the fact that it designs its own mobile chipsets. The press claimed that Apple is building its own modem division as a way to get away from relying on Qualcomm for that part of its business.

It is unclear whether these efforts are still underway. Apple does not speak too freely about its future product plans. However, it was clear as late as 2022 that the iPhone 15 was not going to feature an Apple-designed modem. Today's agreement would seem to rule out a switch until 2027 at the earliest.

The iPhone 14 family uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 modem. Samsung's Galaxy S23 lineup, for example, uses a Snapdragon X70 modem.

However, in a few months, Samsung's flagship phones will likely leapfrog the iPhone 15 in terms of connectivity. the Galaxy S24 family is rumored to use the Snapdragon X75 modem that Qualcomm announced earlier this year. x75, promises better connectivity and improved power management than previous Qualcomm modems. In particular, Qualcomm is using a next-generation AI processor in the x75, which should deliver a 2.5x performance improvement over the x70's AI processor.

Samsung phones have repeatedly achieved faster data rates than the iPhone, and even if the iPhone 15 has a better modem than its predecessor, we imagine that will continue once the Galaxy S24 debuts next year.

We're keeping our ear to the ground for all the latest iPhone 15 rumors ahead of Apple's big event tomorrow with our iPhone 15 Live blog. We also have a guide on how to watch the Apple iPhone 15 event so you can find out all the latest info on Apple's new device.