Apple has underplayed the introduction of its first in-house cellular modem chip in the iPhone 16e, but future versions could be incorporated into the A-series chip, and even M-Series down the road.

Apple plans to move away from Qualcomm modems in the Apple Watch while bolstering its new in-house alternatives, according to The

Per Apple, it's "the first modem designed by Apple." Given that all previous iPhones also had some sort of modem chip inside — for example, the iPhone 16 sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon X71M — it's easy to overlook the C1 as just another chip that makes the iPhone do basic iPhone stuff like connecting to the internet.