Apple Extends Modem Licensing Deal With Qualcomm Through March 2027

[coolfactor]

See, we can all work together to produce a superior product, no need to internalize the entire manufacturing process. Apple doesn't make their batteries or their screens either.

That's a drastic oversimplification. Apple is intimately involved in the design of every major component. They don't just buy off-the-shelf batteries and screens. While they may not be directly inventing new battery or screen technologies, they are very tightly controlling the design at every stage of the manufacturing process. Samsung may be manufacturing the screens, but they are "Apple screens". Same for the camera components.

 

[dwaite]

See, we can all work together to produce a superior product, no need to internalize the entire manufacturing process. Apple doesn't make their batteries or their screens either.

Their batteries and screens aren't by companies that pushed all their competition out of the market, or try to charge a percentage rate of the entire phone sale.

Pretty sure if Apple had multiple vendors for modems like they do their other components, they would have never started trying to make their own modem.

 

[Grey Area]

So Sept 2027, new iPhones with apple modems

Or, February 2026: "Apple Extends Modem Licensing Deal With Qualcomm Through March 2029"

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Quite a climb down. Hope Apple aren't trying to avoid paying their share for Qualcomms IP

 

[TracerAnalog]

Apple has ideas but pooooor implementation Capabilities. Most things are done by a 3rd party, if done by Apple they are a mess. Just look at IOS, buggy with broken basic features (bluetooth is broken for older devices/chips, dial pad is jurassic, etc.).

Buggy iOS? Dial pad is Jurassic? Bluetooth broken? You might be right, but what do you mean precisely?
iOS is in my experience just as buggy as any other major operating system that I know, be it Android, Windows or MacOS. And Apple Silicon is not a mess methinks…
As to Apple Modems: I think they underestimated the difficulties of developing new modem technologies that have not already been copyrighted by Qualcomm. My bet: it will be Qualcomm modems for the next 10 years at least😊

 

[cdsapplefan]

I know Apple is itching to all out buy Qualcomm or at least buy those dang gone patents, but government will not let them do that. No monopoly

 

[cdsapplefan]

Apple lost the Apple Watch Patent and there watches were banned temporarily. Apple had to remove the oxygen sensor to continue sales. Apple definitely does not want a iPhone 📱 ban because of a patent so it will be Qualcomm modems in all iPhones until Apple is able to either buy Qualcomm or come up with a revolutionary way to re-invent a 5G modem

 

[cdsapplefan]

For Apple to buy $1 billion worth of modem patents from Intel and from them also poaching Qualcomm employees including hiring Qualcomm’s main CEO at the time, must mean it’s really difficult to make a 5G modem without infringing on Qualcomm’s patents

 

[Tito360]

this comes to: no surprise ...
Qualcomm has the best modems and until Apple can do better, we'll have Qualcomm modems in Apple flagship iPhones

Just say iPhone sounds like flagship means more of a water boat phone lol

 

[ric22]

Isn't it near impossible to produce a modem without crapping all over Qualcomm's intellectual property?

 

[makitango]

Isn't it near impossible to produce a modem without crapping all over Qualcomm's intellectual property?

I think it's not hard for Apple to make their own modem, but very hard with the technology whose patents it bought when they bought that Intel division. Obviously, the Intel tech was inferior so building up on an already inferior foundation and overtaking or matching the industry lead, that's close to impossible.
Qualcomm has the patents of the best tech in the industry when it comes to communication chips, and it is like Apple trying to make a new CPU with Intel infrastructure when we are already on the Arm train (for which Apple pays its license fees of course).
I think Apple will be forced to innovate if they want their own modem and if wanting to get rid of paying Qualcomm royalties, they have to start ignoring their probably proprietary Intel patents and start from scratch. If they can pull off a modem with that, even if it lacks behind in a good enough tradeoff, I would commend them for that.

That would mean that they may have bought a DOA patent but they still acquired the engineering talents, which they can use.

 

[MacFarmer]

qualcomm must have patented this tech like crazy. I guess its real hard now to create a competing product without infringing these patents, hence the delays and deal extensions.

 

[Xavier]

As long as it isn't an intel modem.

 

[ghostface147]

Some battles aren’t worth it because your opponent is far superior. This is one of them.

 

[Shirasaki]

See, we can all work together to produce a superior product, no need to internalize the entire manufacturing process. Apple doesn't make their batteries or their screens either.

Trust me Apple fans demand Apple to literally make everything inhouse, from components as small as a diode. They call it “device security”. All must be made in US as well.

 

[MacBH928]

aka we don't know how to make it work

 

[ric22]

Some battles aren’t worth it because your opponent is far superior. This is one of them.

Agreed. *Maybe* they could do it if they threw $100,000,000,000 at it across the next decade, but is it worth it?

 

[citysnaps]

Cannot think this was the intention with the patent system. The ridiculous patent hoarding the last decades has for long been a problem for smaller inventors that cannot afford expensive settlements. When even those with literally unlimited resources struggle, something is certainly wrong.

Nothing is wrong.

Over the decades Qualcomm has likely invested many millions of $ doing the incredibly hard work developing novel signal processing algorithms relating to modern digital communications that we rely on today. One must remember like many tech companies, they started off small, founded by seven employees, and innovated their way to success.

A huge hat-tip to Dr. Andrew Viterbi, Dr. Irwin Jacobs, and others for taking the risks long ago.

 

[sparkinstx]

Running up the white flag?

 

[Glideslope]

The elusive Apple modem. Which will we see first? The modem or the car?

The car with Vision Pro Navigation. 😉

 

[Glideslope]

Apple lost the Apple Watch Patent and there watches were banned temporarily. Apple had to remove the oxygen sensor to continue sales. Apple definitely does not want a iPhone 📱 ban because of a patent so it will be Qualcomm modems in all iPhones until Apple is able to either buy Qualcomm or come up with a revolutionary way to re-invent a 5G modem

No Hardware has been removed. The App is not functional.

 

[xmach]

Imagine being on the Apple modem team. How do you show your face in the cafeteria at Apple Park?

Apple started this effort maybe in 2016 or 2017. They groom Intel and fight with Qualcomm. Then Tim Cook pays Qualcomm $4.5B as a mea culpa. Apple buys Intel 5G technologies for $1B. It's five years later and the team has nothing to show for it.

Meanwhile the guys at Huawei develop a 5G modem, integrate it into the SoC, and even add two way satellite voice and message capability. All using homegrown 7nm. Meanwhile, Apple has full TSMC access down to N3.

I heard that Huawei's manage some impressive advancements lately. If indeed they have developed their own 5G modem (while fully respecting IP), credit to them. But is there any information available as to how well their 5G modem performs? How does it compare to Qualcomm's offerings? That's a key missing piece of information.

 

[ingik]

The elusive Apple modem. Which will we see first? The modem or the car?

I am still waiting for the Macbook G5............

 

[vkd]

"Apple also has to avoid infringing on Qualcomm's patents during its modem development."

THAT is the sole reason they haven't done it. Qualcomm have it sewn up with patents.

 

[JPack]

I heard that Huawei's manage some impressive advancements lately. If indeed they have developed their own 5G modem (while fully respecting IP), credit to them. But is there any information available as to how well their 5G modem performs? How does it compare to Qualcomm's offerings? That's a key missing piece of information.

Why would there be any IP issues? First, Huawei owns the most number of 5G SEP patents. They are basically one of the main co-creators of 5G.

Huawei and Qualcomm lead the 5G SEP race

The 5G revolution will disrupt business models for connected devices and prompt industries to reconsider how they deal with intellectual property. With the growing complexity of licensing SEPs in new industry verticals, the need for transparency is increasing.

www.iam-media.com

Huawei also settled a IP dispute with Qualcomm back in 2020. Apple pays Huawei royalties for 5G.

In terms of performance, there are plenty of YouTube videos showing performance comparison with iPhone on the same network.