Apple has just revealed the iPhone 16E, its new budget phone to replace the older iPhone SE, but it is more than just a cheaper to go on the iPhone 16 as it comes with a brand new component: C1-Cellular modem.
It’s Apple’s first modem chip ever created for an iPhone and marks what could be an important step from using Qualcomm Modem chips, which also lets the Cupertino herd have greater control over iPhone hardware at a granular level.
We do not have a huge amount of information about the C1 modemchip. Still, Apple proclaimed that it is “the most effective modem ever on an iPhone and delivered fast and reliable 5G-cellular connection.”
A quick and reliable 5G connection is expected, especially when the iPhone 16E is a $ 599 /3599 / AU $ 999 phone, so it’s hardly a slam-dunk competitor for our best cheap phone list, at least in the current content. But what got my attention was the power effectiveness requirement.
Incredibly, I live in a part of London that has not yet got fiber internet connection, so when it comes to doing something that requires a lot of bandwidth, says downloading a PS5 or Xbox Series X -Games, I have to have to tie to my iPhone 16 Pro Max to take advantage of the faster 5G connection.
This is fine until I look at how much battery is gaped up from using lasting 5G data transfer, plus the phone becomes quite toast to touch.
If C1 can improve effect efficiency significantly, we could see the iPhone 16e and maybe like the rumored iPhone 17 family, fight this by glowing less juice from the battery and getting less hot under the silicon collar.
In general, we could see that iPhones are improving the already solid battery life that Apple phones tend to offer, although they are far from the longest long-term smartphones. At a time when we are looking to demand AI-driven tools and features appear in the best phones, improved effect efficiency will be rather more important.
Chipping away
Another interesting point that emerged when I dug into Apple’s iPhone 16E message is that the combination of the new C1 chip and A18 chip, which can be found in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, has made possible A new internal design with iPhone 16E.
Apple has not gone into detail here, but just like in the world of cars, especially Formula One, new methods of packaging in components can lead to more efficient design and potentially improved performance.
Or a new internal design for iPhones could provide new hardware features; Maybe with the next generation of iPhones, we could get a dedicated graphic treatment unit separate from the A18 chip that could bring huge graphics power to supercharge games and other graphically demanding tasks on iPhones.
This is just me who is considering, of course. But if nothing else, a new internal design could provide more compact and slimmer iPhones.
So while a new internal-designed Modemchip may not be the most exciting of new Apple components, it could be a bigger deal for future iPhones than one might think.
