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Apple has finalized a business agreement with Dialog Semiconductor to license its iPhone power management technology and transfer technical assets, in a deal worth $600 million.

As part of the agreement, Apple will acquire some of the Anglo-German chipmaker's assets and 300 of its R&D staff, which is around 16 percent of Dialog's workforce. Dialog's shares rose as much as 34 percent on the news, their highest since 2002.

dialog-semiconductor-iphone-800x508.jpg

Announcing the deal on Thursday, Dialog said Apple would pay it $300 million in cash for the transaction and prepay a further $300 million for products to be delivered to Apple over the next three years. Commenting on the news, Apple SVP Johny Srouji told TechCrunch:
Dialog has deep expertise in chip development, and we are thrilled to have this talented group of engineers who've long supported our products now working directly for Apple. Our relationship with Dialog goes all the way back to the early iPhones, and we look forward to continuing this long-standing relationship with them.
Dialog shares took a tumble in late 2017 when the company admitted that Apple, its top customer, could build its own power management chips for future iPhones without the chipmaker's help.

The admission came as a serious blow to Dialog, which exclusively designs the current main power management chip for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch models. Apple reportedly accounted for nearly three quarters of Dialog Semiconductor's revenue in 2016.

However, today's agreement gives Dialog time to reduce its dependence on Apple, which the chipmaker predicts will account for three-quarters of its sales over the course of this year.

Dialog CEO Jalal Bagherli told Reuters the chipmaker could now look forward to a "managed, smooth" transformation of the business as it seeks new opportunities for growth in other markets that could include home speakers, fitness trackers or smart watches.

The deal represents a huge investment for Apple, which will take over Dialog facilities in Italy, Germany, and the U.K., expanding its chip research and development significantly across Europe. Subject to regulatory approval, the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019.

Article Link: Apple Acquires iPhone Power Management Technology in $600 Million Deal With Chipmaker Dialog
 
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hybroid

macrumors regular
Aug 12, 2010
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Surprised why fast fuel hasn't made it to iPhone yet... Here's hoping...
 

neuropsychguy

macrumors 68020
Sep 29, 2008
2,354
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Just put bigger batteries in the damn devices! Problem solved.
Bigger batteries is the new MHz Myth. Or, if you prefer another metaphor/analogy: Car engines can be designed to be more efficient. Putting in a larger gas tank is one solution to increase travel distance but increasing efficiency can also do that and also reduces waste.
 
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asdavis10

macrumors 6502
Feb 3, 2008
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And shares will fall off a cliff in 3 years when Apple stops doing business with them (again, but for real this time).
 

Bacillus

Suspended
Jun 25, 2009
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If it takes 10.000 advisors and 600 mio to convince Apple to pack better power adapters, it is worth the effort
 
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Steve121178

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,385
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Bedfordshire, UK
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

It's different. Apple limit the battery life by making things small for the sake of it. Not just in their phones, but all their devices, especially MacBooks. Form over what the user needs/demands most from their tech.
 

gixxerfool

macrumors 65816
Jun 7, 2008
1,087
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Bigger batteries is the new MHz Myth. Car engines can be designed to be more efficient. Putting in a larger gas tank is one solution but increasing efficiency reduced a lot of waste.

I’m not sure what the MHz myth is, but it does remind me of the megapixel myth. More megapixels=better pictures. Your analogy is pretty spot on. Suzuki made their race bikes faster by losing weight, not increasing power.
 

PickUrPoison

macrumors G3
Sep 12, 2017
8,131
10,720
Sunnyvale, CA
Just put bigger batteries in the damn devices! Problem solved.
How much thicker/heavier do you want the Watch to be? How much larger do you really want your AirPods?
[doublepost=1539257360][/doublepost]
It's different. Apple limit the battery life by making things small for the sake of it. Not just in their phones, but all their devices, especially MacBooks. Form over what the user needs/demands most from their tech.
Users want thinner and lighter MacBooks and Watches. The iPhone has gotten thicker every year since the 6, because form follows function.
 

BvizioN

macrumors 603
Mar 16, 2012
5,701
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Manchester, UK
It's different. Apple limit the battery life by making things small for the sake of it. Not just in their phones, but all their devices, especially MacBooks. Form over what the user needs/demands most from their tech.

I may be the only person on this planet who finds the battery life now days absolutely ZERO problems.
iPhone takes me fine throughout the day, on wireless charge just before I go to bed. I pick it fully charge the next morning.
Apple Watch series 4 can take me easy throughout 2 days but I put it on the charger every evening anyway because I don't sleep with it.
iPad pro takes me through almost a week.
AirPods take me easy through a week.
MacBook Pro is most of the time connected to LG 4K monitor.
And yes, I travel. When I do I make sure my devices are fully charged prior flights.

Would it be better if the battery lasted weeks on these devices? Yes.
Does it make my life hard charging them daily or every 2 days or every week? Absolutely not.
 
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laz232

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Feb 4, 2016
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At a café near you
I’m not sure what the MHz myth is, but it does remind me of the megapixel myth. More megapixels=better pictures. Your analogy is pretty spot on. Suzuki made their race bikes faster by losing weight, not increasing power.

There is an engineering and technological sweet spot here though, for example the reverse that less megapixels makes for a better picture is obviously not true either, just look at the HTC phone stead tried this. The truth is that for a certain pixel size and technology smaller pixels can actually give benefits even when the signal to noise ratio of the individual pixels goes down, but if this allows for example less read out noise or Getting rid of the anti-aliasing filter by having the special Nyquist frequency be determined by a diffraction limited lens due to the high pixel count then megapixels are still an advantage...

Dictated on the phone which may explain grammatical errors
 

Steve121178

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,385
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How much thicker/heavier do you want the Watch to be?

Well here's the thing. The battery life of my series 2 Apple Watch was flawless. Wearing it a full day it would never drop below 75%. My new series 4 is a larger watch but uses twice the percentage of my series 2. It's well documented that the battery in the series 4 is smaller than the series 3, despite being bigger. So whatever Apple are doing doesn't make sense.

But does the series 4 last me a day? Yes, easily. If I went away somewhere, would it last me 2-3 days like my series 2 used to do? No chance.

I need to add that I don't have a problem with battery life with most of my tech, but it's 2018 and the industry should really have innovated more in this crucial area.
 

Bacillus

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Jun 25, 2009
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The biggest hurdle is: how to diversify from Lithium retaining the same energy density
 

Glockworkorange

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Feb 10, 2015
2,511
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Chicago, Illinois
This is exciting. I can’t wait to see what they come up with to enhance the power saving features of their devices now. This is a lot bigger than just putting bigger batteries in.
Kind of surprised it took Apple this long to swallow this company. Nice move.
[doublepost=1539259960][/doublepost]
I’m not sure what the MHz myth is, but it does remind me of the megapixel myth. More megapixels=better pictures. Your analogy is pretty spot on. Suzuki made their race bikes faster by losing weight, not increasing power.
Same concept.
 

The Cappy

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2015
648
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Dunwich Fish Market
How much thicker/heavier do you want the Watch to be? How much larger do you really want your AirPods?
[doublepost=1539257360][/doublepost]
Users want thinner and lighter MacBooks and Watches. The iPhone has gotten thicker every year since the 6, because form follows function.
Some users want thinner and lighter MacBooks. Others want more powerful ones. Sadly, Apple (like you) thinks ‘some’ = ‘enough’ and think ‘enough’ is as good as ‘all’.
 

TechRemarker

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2009
511
647
I'm surprised the stock is going up. Since Apple is buying the tech and best people from the company doesn't that confirm that once the process is complete over the next 2 or so years that they will be able to do it all in house? 600 million is great payout but assuming the 1/4 other business won't be enough to sustain them after no?
 

OldSchoolMacGuy

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Jul 10, 2008
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I'm surprised the stock is going up. Since Apple is buying the tech and best people from the company doesn't that confirm that once the process is complete over the next 2 or so years that they will be able to do it all in house? 600 million is great payout but assuming the 1/4 other business won't be enough to sustain them after no?

You're simply assuming that all they're getting in this transaction is the employees. They're also getting the technology and patents. That alone could be worth the price they're paying. To this point they've had to pay to license it from Dialog. They may have already paid more than what they're buying them for in licensing fees over the years.
 

Deadman64

macrumors 6502a
Jun 2, 2008
665
185
For what it’s worth - Energous (RF wireless charging) is partnered with Dialog. Could just be a coincidence.
 
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