Data stolen from Apple’s manufacturing partner Tata Electronics appears to reveal that the iPhone 18 Pro will use different modem chips depending on the market it is sold in, with US models retaining Qualcomm hardware while international models will feature Apple’s in-house C2 modem.
The discovery follows a high-profile cyberattack on Tata, which assembles the iPhone alongside Foxconn. More than 630 GB of confidential data has been stolen by a ransomware group calling itself “World Leaks” and is circulating online. The material was obtained illegally and Woozad did not directly see the stolen files. woozad conducted an analysis of the stolen files and said it could confirm the authenticity of several key documents.
Among the information that particularly attracted attention is a nomenclature apparently linked to the US variant of the iPhone 18 Pro, which lists several Qualcomm components rather than Apple’s C2 modem, codenamed Ganymede. Qualcomm parts referenced include the SDX80M, SDR875, QDM8771, QDM8720, PMK75, PMX75 and QET7100A, components associated with mmWave 5G support. On the other hand, the international iPhone 18 Pro models would use the “C2”, which would succeed the C1 and C1X modems currently present in the iPhone Air, iPhone 17e and iPad Pro M5.
The implication, like woozad note is that the C2 still lacks mmWave capability and Apple is once again relying on Qualcomm to fill this gap for US carriers.
mmWave is the ultra-high frequency band of 5G offered primarily by Verizon, delivering very fast download speeds over short distances. Apple’s C1 and C1X modems are widely considered more energy efficient than their Qualcomm counterparts, meaning that US iPhone 18 Pro buyers may see somewhat worse battery life than those buying the same device elsewhere.
Bold FireballJohn Gruber’s John Gruber has offered an analysis of the practical tradeoffs involved. Although 5G outperformed LTE in his tests, Gruber claimed that the difference had no significant impact on the actual feeling of using the phone:
Having a phone capable of generating 320 Mbps over a cellular network is like having a car capable of going 320 MPH – a cool technical feat, but of no practical value to me. I never feel like I’m waiting for anything to load because I’m on LTE. LTE is pretty fast and regular 5G is more than fast enough. 5G mmWave is simply a waste of battery life as far as I’m concerned.
On why Apple wouldn’t just roll out the C2 everywhere rather than keep Qualcomm for the US market, Gruber pointed the finger squarely at the carrier economics:
Download speeds faster than you actually need are a bragging point for carriers. Longer battery life and sufficiently fast download speeds are a bragging point for Apple. Verizon – and to a lesser extent, AT&T – have spent a fortune developing mmWave networks. They don’t want to sell flagship phones that don’t support them. Apple’s flagship iPhones have supported these networks since 2020. If Zivkovic’s analysis of this data stolen from Tata is correct and Apple is going to use Qualcomm modems only in the iPhone 18 Pro models sold in the US, I think that’s what Verizon and AT&T are bragging about, not a practical benefit for the user. And the result could be that US iPhone 18 Pro models have slightly worse battery life than those in the rest of the world.
The C2 modem has been a prevalent feature on the iPhone 18 Pro for years as part of Apple’s broader efforts to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm. A split deployment, with C2 handling most of the world while Qualcomm covers the US, would represent an important step in that direction, even if it doesn’t allow for a full transition.
The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are expected to launch in the fall alongside the first foldable iPhone.
