It is reported that Apple plans to fully adopt self-developed baseband chips on all upcoming iPhone 18 series and gradually stop relying on Qualcomm baseband. This change will not only bring about improvements in speed and energy efficiency, but will also be accompanied by a previously little-known improvement in positioning privacy protection.
In iOS 26.3, Apple added a new setting called "Limit Precise Location" to reduce the location data exposed by the device to mobile network operators, thus improving the level of user privacy protection. Mobile networks usually use the base station information accessed by the device to estimate the user's location. However, after this function is turned on, some of the data originally provided to the operator will be restricted. What the operator sees will no longer be the precise positioning of the street house number, but more likely only the approximate block range where the device is located.
Currently, this feature is limited to devices equipped with Apple's self-developed C1 or C1X baseband, including iPhone Air, iPhone 16e, iPhone 17e, and new iPad Pro equipped with M5 chips; devices using Qualcomm basebands (such as the iPhone 17 Pro series) do not yet support "limiting precise location." With Apple’s self-developed baseband expected to be fully used in new models such as the iPhone 18 Pro and the foldable iPhone Fold, this privacy feature is expected to be expanded to the entire iPhone product line.
Apple says reducing location accuracy will not affect signal quality or day-to-day user experience, nor will it affect the precise location information provided to emergency departments during emergency calls. This function is only used to limit the location data that operators can obtain. It is two independent mechanisms from the location information shared with various applications through "Location Services".
However, for this privacy protection to be truly popular, in addition to hardware support, operators must also deploy related functions on the network side. Currently, the number of operators that support "restricting precise location" is still limited. In the United States, only Boost Mobile participates. In the United Kingdom, EE, BT, and Sky provide support. Some operators in Austria, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, and Thailand have also joined. The specific list can be found on Apple's official website.
The report also mentioned that the next-generation C2 baseband being developed by Apple is considered to be more advanced than C1/C1X, and its overall performance is expected to be close to Qualcomm’s latest generation baseband products, and is expected to support millimeter wave 5G (mmWave) functions that have not been implemented in C1/C1X before. As the commercialization of C2 basebands advances and the iPhone 18 series switches to self-developed basebands, Apple’s strategic changes in network connectivity and privacy protection will have a lasting impact on the entire iPhone ecosystem and operator cooperation models in the next few years.