Apple has decided to overturn the table. The famous manufacturer of the iPhone has made a major change in the production of its golden egg hen with 200 billion dollars in revenue. According to information from Bloomberg, the apple brand will develop its own components from the end of 2024 to quickly dispense with historical suppliers. After abandoning Intel for its MacBook processors, Apple will gradually cut ties with Broadcom and Qualcomm. The first provides the chip that allows the iPhone to connect via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The second produces, as it does for Android models, cellular modems that communicate with 4G and 5G network antennas.
Apple is reportedly working on a component that combines both features. Scarred by its industrial setbacks in China and the shortage of components, the Cupertino company intends to design these critical components in-house as it did for the Apple Silicon M1 and M2 processors that equip its MacBooks and iPads. A strategy of independence with a domino effect on the entire electronics industry which depends a lot on the American multinational.
Apple uses nearly 180 suppliers including the Korean LG or Samsung for its screens, Sony for the photo sensors or the Franco-Italian STMicroelectronics for the FaceID 3D camera module or the eSIM.
The historical producer of the iPhone processors, the Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC, has avoided the prospect of such a cold shower by relocating the production of these chips to Arizona. Two production units will emerge from the ground by 2026 to complete a project involving 40 billion euros in investment. Tim Cook’s company has also decided to diversify its production sites by transferring part of the final assembly of the iPhone to India and also Vietnam.