Broadcom Inks Multi-Year Supply Deals With Apple to Provide Wireless Components and Modules

[MacRumors]

Longtime Apple supplier Broadcom today announced that it has signed two multi-year deals with Apple that cover a "range of specified high-performance wireless components and modules" that Apple will use in its products.

According to Broadcom, these new agreements are in addition to a prior agreement it established with Apple in June 2019 for RF components and modules. The new agreements will last for three and a half years beginning in January 2020.

Broadcom says that the two new deals combined with its existing 2019 deal could generate aggregate total future revenue of approximately $15 billion.

As pointed out by Bloomberg, Broadcom's announcement allows potential purchasers to know that they're getting an established business relationship with Apple. Broadcom has been exploring a sale of its radio frequency chip unit since last year.

Article Link: Broadcom Inks Multi-Year Supply Deals With Apple to Provide Wireless Components and Modules

 

[Sasparilla]

Broadcom? I just assumed they got all this from Qualcomm which they signed up with last year as well.

 

[konqerror]

Broadcom? I just assumed they got all this from Qualcomm which they signed up with last year as well.

This is mainly for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chipsets. Nothing to do with cellular chipsets. The article could make this a bit more clear.

Broadcom's once-huge client Wi-Fi business has been decimated by the combination of Intel's bundling and Ralink/MediaTek from Taiwan. They already sold the IOT business to Cypress. Similarly, their mobile business is under pressure from Qualcomm and MediaTek integrating these pieces into their baseband. I think their infrastructure AP/home router business is what's left.

 

[avtella]

Qualcomm and Intel seem to have better client side chips. Qualcomm even on the router/AP side also seems better but I can see Apple wanting to counterbalance vendors, which is practical from a business perspective.

Broadcom’s WiFi chips generally seem to be inferior to Qualcomm since the first Wave 2 AC chips came out at least in terms the extras such as MU-MIMO where they actually at times could reduce performance significantly and even in AX in testing by SmallNetbuilder their AX chipset based routers showed a weird dip in performance in the 5Ghz band. I can imagine the client side chips like the ones Apple buys are just as lacking, the again of course I could be wrong...

 

[Gabebear]

I hope this is so we get WiFi6 with 6ghz support in the next iPhone. 6ghz is a game changer in environments that have a lot of interference or lots of devices.

Broadcom has 6ghz Wifi6 chipsets ready to ship. Qualcomm and Intel still haven’t announced any support for 6ghz WiFi...

Samsung also opted for Broadcom chips for the Wifi6 in the Galaxy S10, even though they used Qualcomm’s CPU/modem in the S10.

 

[PickUrPoison]

I hope this is so we get WiFi6 with 6ghz support in the next iPhone. 6ghz is a game changer in environments that have a lot of interference or lots of devices.

Broadcom has 6ghz Wifi6 chipsets ready to ship. Qualcomm and Intel still haven’t announced any support for 6ghz WiFi...

Samsung also opted for Broadcom chips for the Wifi6 in the Galaxy S10, even though they used Qualcomm’s CPU/modem in the S10.

There’s no reason not to expect the adoption of 6E, though I really don’t think it’ll be in iPhone 12. The design of the 12 was probably frozen in November(ish). If chips weren’t available last summer or thereabouts, I doubt there would have been time to tweak the antenna design and do the necessary testing.

Certifications are need from FCC and foreign regulators, and last I heard the frequencies haven’t even been allocated yet. There aren’t any base stations deployed either afaik. I’d be looking at the 12S at the earliest.

 

[randolorian]

After reading today's WSJ article, I bet they got a terrible deal.

 

[avtella]

I hope this is so we get WiFi6 with 6ghz support in the next iPhone. 6ghz is a game changer in environments that have a lot of interference or lots of devices.

Broadcom has 6ghz Wifi6 chipsets ready to ship. Qualcomm and Intel still haven’t announced any support for 6ghz WiFi...

Samsung also opted for Broadcom chips for the Wifi6 in the Galaxy S10, even though they used Qualcomm’s CPU/modem in the S10.

The Samsung phones at least the 7 & 8 if I recall correctly would drop to single stream mode when MU-MIMO was enabled something that was never addressed... those chipsets had issues. But I’m sure even Samsung was probably just trying to counterbalance vendors just like Apple. Just because Broadcom announces features doesn’t mean it works well like their AX implementation having dips in performance. Probably another gen chipset before they have a stable implementation.

 

[ksec]

Qualcomm and Intel seem to have better client side chips. Qualcomm even on the router/AP side also seems better but I can see Apple wanting to counterbalance vendors, which is practical from a business perspective.

Broadcom’s WiFi chips generally seem to be inferior to Qualcomm since the first Wave 2 AC chips came out at least in terms the extras such as MU-MIMO where they actually at times could reduce performance significantly and even in AX in testing by SmallNetbuilder their AX chipset based routers showed a weird dip in performance in the 5Ghz band. I can imagine the client side chips like the ones Apple buys are just as lacking, the again of course I could be wrong...

While Qualcomm Atheros has come a long way from their crappy WiFi chip, Broadcom still has the better Router and Client Chip, although also more expensive.

And with this new Deal it will be another 4 years before a possible Apple WiFi chip used in iPhone and iPad or Mac. Which we will have new 802.11be, I surely hope they learned their mistakes from WiFi6 which is a complete mess.

I mean they did not even take the chance to ratify 160Mhz / 80+80Mhz Channel or OFDMA in WiFi 6E. So right now 802.11ax or WiFi 6 on the market looks more like a minor improved 802.11ac + 2.4Ghz support.

To give them the benefits of doubt, 802.11ax is still not finalised yet. But I am still pissed.

 

[avtella]

While Qualcomm Atheros has come a long way from their crappy WiFi chip, Broadcom still has the better Router and Client Chip, although also more expensive.

And with this new Deal it will be another 4 years before a possible Apple WiFi chip used in iPhone and iPad or Mac. Which we will have new 802.11be, I surely hope they learned their mistakes from WiFi6 which is a complete mess.

I mean they did not even take the chance to ratify 160Mhz / 80+80Mhz Channel or OFDMA in WiFi 6E. So right now 802.11ax or WiFi 6 on the market looks more like a minor improved 802.11ac + 2.4Ghz support.

To give them the benefits of doubt, 802.11ax is still not finalised yet. But I am still pissed.

Quite the opposite... Broadcom has great Wave 1 AC chipsets but fell back afterwards.

If you look at SmallNetBuilder’s in depth testing starting since the Wave 2 AC chips Broadcom has been behind with bad MU-MIMO implementation to OFDMA AX issues and lack of properly functioning WPA3. Just look at the performance dip in the Broadcom AX routers from Asus and Netgear while the RAX120 which is Qualcomm based actually performed as expected in 5Ghz AX. The QCA chipset also has superior storage performance. Broadcom is still pretty behind. Qualcomm clients like the QCA6174A in laptops and also their mobile chips and Intel clients like the 9260AC WiFi card don’t drop to one stream mode with MU enabled like the issues Broadcom’s MU capable AC chips did... Not to mention you would actually have the Broadcom 4366 chipset based routers show major losses in performance rather than gains with MU clients in general regardless of brand at times unlike Qualcomm’s QCA9984 based routers like the R7800 or Synology RT2600AC which actually had a good implementation.

I think you are simply looking at Broadcom just checkmarking features and not the actual implementation.

I’ve also beta tested enough high end routers to come to the same conclusion, I currently have the RAX80 (Broadcom) and RAX120 (Qualcomm). Also have more compatibility issues and drops with HT160 clients on the BCM unit, when AX is enabled while everything works fine on the Qualcomm unit. I also tried and returned an Asus AX88U which is the same hardware as the Netgear RAX80 and had the same issues.

 

[ksec]

Quite the opposite... Broadcom has great Wave 1 AC chipsets but fell back afterwards.

If you look at SmallNetBuilder’s in depth testing starting since the Wave 2 AC chips Broadcom has been behind with bad MU-MIMO implementation to OFDMA AX issues and lack of properly functioning WPA3. Just look at the performance dip in the Broadcom AX routers from Asus and Netgear while the RAX120 which is Qualcomm based actually performed as expected in 5Ghz AX. The QCA chipset also has superior storage performance. Broadcom is still pretty behind. Qualcomm clients like the QCA6174A in laptops and also their mobile chips and Intel clients like the 9260AC WiFi card don’t drop to one stream mode with MU enabled like the issues Broadcom’s MU capable AC chips did... Not to mention you would actually have the Broadcom 4366 chipset based routers show major losses in performance rather than gains with MU clients in general regardless of brand at times unlike Qualcomm’s QCA9984 based routers like the R7800 or Synology RT2600AC which actually had a good implementation.

I think you are simply looking at Broadcom just checkmarking features and not the actual implementation.

I’ve also beta tested enough high end routers to come to the same conclusion, I currently have the RAX80 (Broadcom) and RAX120 (Qualcomm). Also have more compatibility issues and drops with HT160 clients on the BCM unit, when AX is enabled while everything works fine on the Qualcomm unit. I also tried and returned an Asus AX88U which is the same hardware as the Netgear RAX80 and had the same issues.

Which of the Router actually "uses" OFDMA in AX ?

 

[avtella]

Which of the Router actually "uses" OFDMA in AX ?

The RAX120 (Downlink 2.4/5Ghz) and Asus AX88U (Downlink and Uplink 2.4 GHz only) have OFDMA enabled. Buffalo AirStation WXR-5950AX12 and the Linksys Velop AX units support full Down and Uplink OFDMA in both bands.

On the RAX120 there’s a user option to enable/disable OFDMA in the GUI since the past few firmwares.

 

[Gabebear]

The Samsung phones at least the 7 & 8 if I recall correctly would drop to single stream mode when MU-MIMO was enabled something that was never addressed... those chipsets had issues. But I’m sure even Samsung was probably just trying to counterbalance vendors just like Apple. Just because Broadcom announces features doesn’t mean it works well like their AX implementation having dips in performance. Probably another gen chipset before they have a stable implementation.

Broadcom is actually just updating their current chips to work with 6ghz. The BCM43684 in their 6ghz/Wifi6e portfolio is the same model as the BCM43684 in shipping products(e.g. the Asus RT-AX88U access point). 6ghz WiFi has been rumbling for years, so it’s not surprising current chips would already have it and just need new antennas. The chip models Broadcom lists for 6ghz are in tons of existing products. I wouldn’t count on any current products to get updates to enable 6ghz though.