At the heart of the system, the C1 (Cellular 1) chip first appears in the iPhone 16e. It is also expected to debut in other Apple devices in the coming months and will likely see use across all or most of the iPhone range by this time next year. Apple calls it “the most power efficient modem ever in an iPhone.”

Phone 17 5G modems will be made by MediaTek, as Apple moves away from Qualcomm. Future iPhones will use Apple's solutions instead.

Apple's first custom-designed modem chip, the C1, has finally made its debut in the iPhone 16e, which Apple announced on Wednesday. It's