M1 tastes the sweetness all apple chips want to develop themselves

Apple may be one of Silicon Valley's most mysterious companies, but its plans to move all of its component production in-house have been confirmed. Apple has reportedly embarked on the path of removing Intel and AMD chips from macs and is now working to replace wireless components provided by Broadcom and Skyworks Solutions for its own products.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is hiring "dozens of people" to develop wireless radios, RF integrated circuits, wireless SoCs, and Bluetooth and wifi chips at its factory in Irvine, California. The news came a day after Apple told employees that its plans for hybrid work had been postponed indefinitely.

It's no surprise that Apple has pushed to replace parts suppliers that have made wireless chips for its devices for years. Earlier this year, prominent Apple analyst Mingchi Kuo said Cupertino would develop its own 5G modem, a chip that connects you to a cellular network, and replace Qualcomm, which is currently used in iPads and iPhones.

Apple already has some experience making wireless chips; the latest iPhone models include a U1 ultra-wideband for locating and communicating with other U1-equipped devices, such as AirTags. In addition, the H1 chip inside airPods allows faster and safer Bluetooth pairing between earbuds and other devices.

Intel is a victim of Apple's M processors, while Broadcom, Skyworks, and Qualcomm could soon lose one of their biggest and most important customers. We have asked these companies and Apple for comments, and we will update this article if we receive a response.

Bloomberg reports that Irving's expansion is in its early stages and will gradually increase; there is no exact timeline for when we can expect iPhones, Macs, and possibly AR headphones to use custom wireless chips, although the aforementioned Gou report says they will appear in the 2023 iPhone.

With the introduction of its custom M-series processors, Apple showed how internal components can lead to performance gains and better integration between products. In addition to gaining control over manufacturing and costs, how Apple can take advantage of custom wireless chips will be an interesting question. Doing so may create a new stream of communication between Apple devices, so you can connect to one device and transfer files to another more easily. Perhaps the most fascinating thing is the coverage of Apple's 5G modem, which we can find in the MacBook Pro if we work hard enough.

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