Patent infringement is almost certainly the whole story here.
It's not that Apple can't build their own modem; it's that Qualcomm has thoroughly patented the best ways to do it.
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Apple to Discontinue Custom 5G Modem Development, Claim Reports
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It's not that Apple can't build their own modem; it's that Qualcomm has thoroughly patented the best ways to do it.
Oh look, someone who doesn’t understand the difficulties of navigating patent law in the US.
MR has reported on the modem issues of Apple and Qualcomm for years and it always keeps coming back to the same simple point, Qualcomm hold the patents that make their modems perform far superior than their competitors. Apple knew this when they decided to use Qualcomm modems in the iphone. Intel who had been making modems for years could not compete with Qualcomm far better modems because the way Qualcomm designed theirs was different to the way Intel and others designed theirs so when companies such as Apple comes along wanting to trial modems to see which one is the best one for their iphone, Qualcomm won out.
Apple have always pushed their vendors to make better. Intel was dropped because they could not achieve with their CPU's what Apple wanted so Apple went it alone and built the CPU the way they wanted it. This was also applied to the modem chips used in the iphone. Apple wanted to drop it's resilience on Qualcomm which would mean Apple would not have to pay billions of $$$ to Qualcomm to use their chips. So Apple in it's twisted wisdom purchases Intel's failing modem business in the belief they could build their own modem chip. The problem was in that to achieve the specifications of performance that Apple wanted it meant they would have to use patents owned by Qualcomm. This is why there was the recent court case of Apple trying to get two patents of Qualcomm's overturned because the patents in question relate to the basic core function of how the modem chip functions. Qualcomm designed their core modem functionality different to how their competitors did it and as it would happen, their design was so much better than their competitors that when it came to performance testing, the Qualcomm modem chips always came out on top.
Apple is not prepared to accept 2nd best. They have tasted what the best is and that is Qualcomm but to keep on having the best it costs Apple billions to do so and they are not prepared to keep on giving Qualcomm billions of $$$ every year. So what does Apple do? they buy Intel's modems, get in Qualcomm designers/engineers and try to make their own modem so it can perform to the high specs that Apple expect but as Apple has found out, it cannot do so unless they use some of Qualcomm patents and Apple is not about to do that because it would mean paying Qualcomm billions of $$$ to license the patents.
What this shows is the arrogance of Apple trying to 'one upmanship' Qualcomm. They do not want to carry on paying to use their modem chips and they do not want to pay to use Qualcomm patents so in their twisted logic Apple thought they could go it alone and design and build their own modem chip and it has taken many years and billions of $$$ to finally figure out that they cannot do it without using some of Qualcomm's patents.
This has been a royal screw up at Apple and such a thing would end the career of a company CEO but whether this will end Tim Cook's reign as CEO is to be seen because at the end of the day it would have been him that gave the green light to do all of this and it has cost the company billions of $$$.
Apple have always pushed their vendors to make better. Intel was dropped because they could not achieve with their CPU's what Apple wanted so Apple went it alone and built the CPU the way they wanted it. This was also applied to the modem chips used in the iphone. Apple wanted to drop it's resilience on Qualcomm which would mean Apple would not have to pay billions of $$$ to Qualcomm to use their chips. So Apple in it's twisted wisdom purchases Intel's failing modem business in the belief they could build their own modem chip. The problem was in that to achieve the specifications of performance that Apple wanted it meant they would have to use patents owned by Qualcomm. This is why there was the recent court case of Apple trying to get two patents of Qualcomm's overturned because the patents in question relate to the basic core function of how the modem chip functions. Qualcomm designed their core modem functionality different to how their competitors did it and as it would happen, their design was so much better than their competitors that when it came to performance testing, the Qualcomm modem chips always came out on top.
Apple is not prepared to accept 2nd best. They have tasted what the best is and that is Qualcomm but to keep on having the best it costs Apple billions to do so and they are not prepared to keep on giving Qualcomm billions of $$$ every year. So what does Apple do? they buy Intel's modems, get in Qualcomm designers/engineers and try to make their own modem so it can perform to the high specs that Apple expect but as Apple has found out, it cannot do so unless they use some of Qualcomm patents and Apple is not about to do that because it would mean paying Qualcomm billions of $$$ to license the patents.
What this shows is the arrogance of Apple trying to 'one upmanship' Qualcomm. They do not want to carry on paying to use their modem chips and they do not want to pay to use Qualcomm patents so in their twisted logic Apple thought they could go it alone and design and build their own modem chip and it has taken many years and billions of $$$ to finally figure out that they cannot do it without using some of Qualcomm's patents.
This has been a royal screw up at Apple and such a thing would end the career of a company CEO but whether this will end Tim Cook's reign as CEO is to be seen because at the end of the day it would have been him that gave the green light to do all of this and it has cost the company billions of $$$.
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If Apple wasn’t intending on paying or cross-licensing patents with Qualcomm, they wouldn’t have bought Intel’s modem unit. Intel’s design is all about cross licensing.
The idea that Apple was pursuing some mythical clean sheet design is romantic, but was never the case from day one. Were people seriously expecting Apple to redesign how to implement LTE, 4G, 3G, etc.?
Well, if true, this is a buying opportunity for Qualcomm stock, which is already on a roll over the last 5 years, but sells at a multiple of 19.4 and has a dividend of 2.5%. Huge trading volume, so no liquidity problems, and a long history of growing earnings and increasing dividends. And almost every phone maker relies on QCOM for these modems.
Agree but if a company like Apple with infinite development resources couldn't do what Qualcomm does then Qualcomm has earned their monopoly with hard work rather than other monopolies that use illegal, anti-competitive strategies, like penalizing customers for working with other vendors.
Even if this particular project is ending, I doubt they'd just call it a day on the idea. Their endgame is integrated on die 5G in A and M series chips. Making iPhones and Macs and iPads by stamping out one completely Apple-engineered board.
True that they are virtually the only supplier of 5G modems to the cellular market. Not technically true that it constitutes an illegal monopoly, which is based on the maker intentionally working to drive competitors out of business, like Standard Oil, or AT&T by using cash reserves to sell below cost until their competition goes broke or sells to them. They have the patents, but competitors are certainly allowed to reverse engineer, and have long done so in the tech industry. If they have the will to commit the necessary resources. Apparently, Apple was not willing to go the distance and gave up.
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A greedy company would develop the stuff in house, manufacture it cheaper as there's no licensing cost but charge the consumer more.
Yep sounds just like Apple.
Apple doesn’t have infinite development resources.
Otherwise, Apple would have paid billions to poach everyone working for Qualcomm. The fact that Apple still buys Broadcom for Wi-Fi and BT chips tells you that. Stuff like M2 and M3 being on 18 month refresh cycles also tells you that.
Apple tried a moonshot even without doing the baby steps of making their own Wi-Fi and BT.
Every for-profit company is greedy. There are zero exceptions...not a single one.
Why do people believe this myth? Apple didn’t do that with their CPUs. They started by licensing ARM technologies. The GPU was done by licensing PowerVR.
Nobody is expecting Apple to do a clean sheet design for everything from 5G to 2G.
The whole idea of buying Intel was to buy the associated patents which would be cross-licensed and negotiated with Qualcomm.
Greedy? Or smart. If you made a component VITAL for the operation of your Device. Would you want to be beholden to ONE company to provide that component. What if Qualcom suddenly have issues.
Wouldn't you rather be in control of this? Screens, batteries and most other parts can be spread around different manufacturers and companies. This can't.
People moan that the actual display panels on the devices are Samsung or LG or whatever and why don't Apple make their own screens... then in the next breath. Stomps feet, "apple are being greedy not wanting to pay other companies for parts".
Since Nokia is the major patent holder for 6G perhaps Apple will negotiate with Nokia on a contract for custom ASIC designs moving forward. Qualcomm isn't the biggest in the game for long. The irony that Nokia now owns Bell Labs seems lost on most folks. That means all the former Lucent and Alcatel IP as well.
Not a myth. You want Apple to license Qualcomm patents so that they can stop using Qualcomm modems?
Genius!
Maybe Apple should focus to offer all their services in a equal way to everyone. I am paying for an iPhone the same amount as an UK or US client, and I should be able to use all the available services as everyone. Same like in streaming services, different countries receive different content; maybe EU should start to bann double standard.
People also need to be reminded of the fact that Apple has been in the radio communications industry a while ever since buying up Passif, who specialized in low power bluetooth chips. There are rumors that Apple wants to create an all-in-one chip that controls Bluetooth, WiFi and Cellular radios… that alone would make it understandable why it is taking them longer than what most arm-chair tech pundits think it should.
This is a the adage is it cheaper to make your own or buy others, and then use the euro regulators against Qualcomm when they again get to big for their pants. I think that huge part of the calculation, also your a software company / hardware company and your software is getting lapped by Phd grads from Stanford in there apartment with AI, so best you dump all your money and might into catching that train.... let Qualcomm have the modem chip..... its not worth the chase
Apple uses ARM patents for their own SoCs. There is a zero chance of not using Qualcomm, Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson, etc. patents for a 5G modem. The modem also has to fallback to 4G, 3G, and 2G. Apple ain’t going to reinvent the wheel for each of those.
The idea is to not pay excessively when Apple can design their own modem using licensed patents.