Stolen data 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 internal C2 modem.
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The discovery came after a massive cyberattack on Tata, which assembles the iPhone with Foxconn. More than 630GB of confidential data was stolen by a ransomware group calling itself “World Leaks” and is circulating online. The material was obtained illegally. AppleInsider conducted an analysis of the stolen files and said it could confirm the authenticity of several key documents.
Among the information that has drawn particular attention is a bill of materials that appears to be related to the US variant of the iPhone 18 Pro, which includes multiple Qualcomm components instead of Apple's C2 modem, codenamed Ganymede. The Qualcomm components listed include the SDX80M, SDR875, QDM8771, QDM8720, PMK75, PMX75 , and QET7100A, components related to mmWave 5G.
In contrast, international models of the iPhone 18 Pro are said to use the “C2,” which will succeed the C1 and C1X modems currently found in the iPhone Air, iPhone 17e , and M5 iPad Pro.
The consequence, as AppleInsider notes, is that the C2 still lacks mmWave capability and that 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 to be more power-efficient than Qualcomm's counterparts, meaning that iPhone 18 Pro in the US may see somewhat worse battery life than those buying the same device elsewhere.
Daring Fireball 's John Gruber offered an analysis of the practical trade-offs involved. While 5G outperformed LTE in his tests, Gruber argued that the difference doesn't have a material impact on how using the phone feels:
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“Having a phone that can download at 320 Mbps over cellular is like having a car that can go 320 MPH — an interesting technical feat, but of no practical value to me. I never feel like I'm waiting for something to load because I'm on LTE. LTE is fast enough, and regular 5G is more than fast enough. 5G mmWave is just a waste of battery life as far as I'm concerned.“
As for why Apple couldn't just deploy C2 everywhere instead of keeping Qualcomm for the US market, Gruber pointed directly to the providers' economics:
“Faster-than-usual download speeds are a bragging point for carriers. Longer battery life and reasonably 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 top-of-the-line phones that don't support them.
Apple's top-of-the-line iPhones have supported these networks since 2020. If Zivkovic's analysis of this stolen Tata data is correct, and Apple is only going to use Qualcomm modems in iPhone 18 Pro models sold in the US, I think the reason is bragging rights for Verizon and AT&T, not any practical benefit for the user. And the result may be that iPhone 18 Pro models in the US have somewhat worse battery life than those in the rest of the world.“
The C2 modem has been rumored to feature in the iPhone 18 Pro for years as part of Apple's broader effort to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm. A split deployment, with C2 covering most of the world while Qualcomm covers the US, would represent a significant step in that direction, even if it falls short of a full transition.
See also: Leaker: iPhone 18e will not have ProMotion Display
The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are expected to be released in the fall along with the first foldable iPhone.
