Apple revealed its custom C1 modem less than a month ago with the iPhone 16e, calling it the “most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone.” It helps the 16e achieve the longest battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone — but the new iPads Apple announced this week will not see these benefits.
After seeing suspicious specs on the new iPads, John Gruber says he spoke to an Apple representative and confirmed that they do not use the C1. This isn’t a complete surprise — Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said in December that Apple is planning a “three-year rollout” with these modems, which means not every product will make the switch right away. Gurman did, however, believe that “lower-end” iPads in 2025 would use the C1, and it appears he was mistaken.
The purpose of Apple’s custom C1 modem is to reduce the company’s reliance on Qualcomm modems but it’s unclear whether Apple’s first attempt matches Qualcomm in quality. Apple made big claims about its power efficiency with the iPhone 16e, but Gurman has claimed that we won’t see the C1 in any “higher-end” products for a while, suggesting that there are still improvements to be made.
So, how does all of this affect the new iPads? Perhaps they won’t be quite as power-efficient as the iPhone 16e, but Qualcomm modems have been doing a great job powering Apple products until now so it doesn’t seem like there will be any negative impact.
According to a recent X post from Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is also working on a “refreshed” version of the C1 to go into mass production next year. He says the company aims to improve power consumption and transmission speed, as well as support for mmWave.
Apple's C1 modem process technology:
– Baseband: 4/5nm (both technologies are similar)
– Low-frequency/Sub-6 TRx (Transceivers): 7nm
– Intermediate Frequency (IF) TRx: 7nm
– PMIC: 55nm
The C1 refreshed version is under development for mass production next year, aiming to improve…
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 6, 2025
Affinity’s new all-in-one creative app is finally coming to the iPad, nearly a year after Canva launched the redesigned desktop version for Mac and Windows. Creatives have been asking for the iPad release ever since, especially because files created in the new Affinity app cannot be opened in the older V2 iPad apps.
Affinity already has Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps on iPad, but the new release combines those tools into the same unified app that Canva launched on desktop last year.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Apple has just launched its latest iPad mini with a notable set of upgrades, including an OLED screen, improved speakers, and a more resilient build. It also gets a new chip, and the whole package costs $200 more than its predecessor. But if you look closely at Apple’s online store, you’ll realize that $699 isn’t enough to get you the most powerful version of the A20 Pro chip inside this tablet. In fact, even if you pay $800 for the 256GB model, you still won’t get the beefiest variant. Only when you jump to the 512GB trim, which costs an absurd $999, do you get the most powerful flavor of the A20 Pro.
The $999 model gets more than extra storage