A report in Taiwan's Economic Daily stated that MediaTek won an order for Wi-Fi 7 chips from a "leading American tablet brand", thus threatening Broadcom's monopoly. Given that Apple is currently the dominant player in the tablet market, the report is likely to refer to the Silicon Valley giant, but one analyst believes that the Taiwanese fabless chip maker has not received any orders from Apple. However, MediaTek is still expected to supply these Wi-Fi chips, but not for tablets.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo refuted rumors that MediaTek has not received any Wi-Fi chip orders for Apple’s iPad series, which means that the Cupertino company’s partnership with Broadcom has not been interrupted for the time being. However, Ming-Chi Kuo did say that MediaTek has received some orders, but they are all for Apple products with lower Wi-Fi specifications, including peripherals and devices that need to be plugged in, such as Apple TV. Analysts at TF International Securities also pointed out that shipments of these chips are said to be as early as 2025 or 2026.
MediaTek also mass-produces 5G modems, but Apple has never partnered with the company to use its basebands in any products. Apple may be willing to pay high prices to maintain business relationships with Broadcom and Qualcomm, even if it knows it is a bad deal, to purchase reliable, high-quality components for several products in order to maintain performance and wide compatibility.
MediaTek's Wi-Fi chip orders for peripherals and Apple TV are ultimately a positive result, because it means that if the company can prove to Apple that it is a reliable supply chain partner, it can win orders for higher-end devices such as iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. That may take a while, though, and by then, Apple may have successfully developed its own 5G modem, which is expected to launch in late 2025 or early 2026.