Apple has announced its brand-new C1 5G modem with the iPhone 16e. But what can it do and can’t do? Let’s dive in.
Apple’s First-Ever 5G Modem Offers Sub-6GHz Connectivity and All the Basics to Keep You Connected Fast
The C1 is the result of years of work, and yet it pretty much got no airtime when Apple announced the iPhone 16e.
Things were sparse until a while ago, and suddenly key details have emerged straight from Apple itself. It gives us a good glimpse into what the chip is capable of doing and how the company plans to take it forward.
First-Ever Apple-Designed Modem
The company calls it its ‘first Apple-designed modem.’ It’s obvious that it is – Apple has never worked on its own modem before, and this is the first-generation chip of its kind.
The chip is designed with responsiveness in mind and how it works to prioritize key traffic in congested cellular areas.
Here’s what Apple has to say about it on its website:
The remarkable power efficiency of Apple silicon — including the first Apple-designed modem, C1 — and iOS means iPhone 16e gets up to 26 hours of video playback. That’s more time to text, browse, and binge movies and shows.
Key Details
Suddenly, we have a lot of key details regarding the Apple C1 chip, thanks to a video and an exclusive tour of Apple’s testing lab by Andru Edwards.
While you can watch the video in its entirety below, but the key things of note are: the baseband is based on the 4mn process, the transceiver is based on the 7nm process, and it works with A18 to prioritize key traffic.
That last part is extremely important. If you’re in a congested 5G or LTE network, the C1 will actively prioritize the task that is currently being worked on. For example, if you’re downloading a photo, sending a video, or playing an online game, the modem will prioritize that traffic instead, ensuring everything feels responsive.
In other words, background tasks will take a backseat to ensure the active ones feel responsive to the user, and that’s key while using a device like an iPhone.
I will highly recommend watching the video from start to finish, because it goes into a lot of details regarding how the C1 is tested by Apple.
5G Limited to Sub-6GHz
According to Apple’s website, the C1 supports 5G, but sub-6GHz, no mmWave here, and it includes support for 4×4 MIMO. Other than that, support for 4G LTE with 4×4 MIMO is here as well.
C1 Does Not Include Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
Do keep in mind Apple is working on its custom Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips for later. The C1 is a modem only and handles cellular data connections only.
802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 Support Only in iPhone 16e
When it comes to Wi-Fi, you might be disappointed. Since the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro feature Wi-Fi 7 with support for MLO (Multi-Link Operation), allowing it to connect to all Wi-Fi bands at the same time, the C1 supports Wi-Fi 6 only – that’s 802.11ax in geek speak.
I’m only going to assume that it supports 5GHz at the 80MHz channel width. Once Apple’s support document is properly updated, I will make changes here as well.
I would have preferred it if it was at least Wi-Fi 6E. But, that’s okay, this is Apple’s first chip and they’re definitely playing it safe here.
Bluetooth 5.3 and Other Things
You also get support for Bluetooth 5.3, which is the same as the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup. What this means is you get a standard that offers stable wireless connections between devices along with high bandwidth support.
Support for NFC is also included, and Express Cards with power reserve are in the iPhone 16e.
Satellite connectivity is also here, allowing you to send emergency text messages in non-coverage areas.
Wrap Up
This chip is definitely going to evolve with time and is bound to replace the Qualcomm modems Apple is currently using in its devices.
For a start, I think Apple is on the right track. The average consumer will not notice a difference in performance at all. However, I will wait for real-world tests to be sure how it compares to other iPhone models.
