Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I never had any problems with Intel modems, but obviously it’s clear that Qualcomm is making progress, and even Huwaei is becoming a key player in some aspects. Qualcomm needs/wants Apples business.
 
  • Like
Reactions: centauratlas
Sounds like Qualcomm caved, they have been hurting for apple's lost revenue.

Nah. Qualcomm doesn’t need to cave. They get revenue from every other smartphone manufacturer in the world.

Apple supposedly had their own modem team and Intel as a back up. Not to mention billions. Clearly, Apple didn’t think the trial was worth betting the farm.
 
Given that Apple caved to Qualcomm demands, yeah. Bad news for Intel though. The upside is it makes more sense for Intel to focus on their high margin x86 server business.
What? Were you in the room seeing the final deal? We have no idea what the final result was. As in most court cases, both sides compromised on something of there would be no settlement.
 
Nah. Qualcomm doesn’t need to cave. They get revenue from every other smartphone manufacturer in the world.

Apple supposedly had their own modem team and Intel as a back up. Not to mention billions. Clearly, Apple didn’t think the trial was worth betting the farm.

Qualcom is one step above a patent troll. They are not offering much of anything. And if Apple is developing their own modem chip, if they care enough to, in 2 years time Qualcom will feel the pain.
 
The Apple apologists will explain how this was in the Apple master plans and how Qualcomm capitulated to end the lawsuit. This proves exactly the opposite. Apple paid up as they should have.
Interesting. I was going to guess that an Apple hater will contort himself into spinning this into yet another Apple-bashing opportunity instead of actually giving a useful, clever, or informative answer. But you do you.
 
Last edited:
What? Were you in the room seeing the final deal? We have no idea what the final result was. As in most court cases, both sides compromised on something of there would be no settlement.

You really think a trillion dollar company needed to compromise? Apple had the resources, PR, and were motivated to win. Apple has everything except 5G hardware. Qualcomm had nothing to lose. They were not getting revenue from Apple anyway.
 
Qualcom is one step above a patent troll. They are not offering much of anything. And if Apple is developing their own modem chip, if they care enough to, in 2 years time Qualcom will feel the pain.

If Apple was only 2 years away with their in-house modem, Tim Cook wouldn’t have compromised on his ideals. Keep in mind it was Apple who sued Qualcomm.
 
Does make you wonder - is this (Intel throwing in the towel) the cause of Apple's / Qaul's earlier or is this the effect of that? Serious bummer they weren't apparently making much money.

Will we see Qualcomm chips in the 2019 phones? I am guessing we will.

Would bet money no on that. It's too late to integrate Qual's 4G chips into Septembers iPhones. But I would bet 2019's will be the last Intel iPhones we ever see.

Guessing Apple is going to have to work their arses off to integrate Qual's 5G's for fall 2020. Apple appears to like to have all this stuff lined up years in advance and we're a year and a half out for new tech (5G) for Sept 2020. Not what Apple would want. JMHO...
 
  • Like
Reactions: ChinaRye
Antitrust regulators should continue their investigations into Qualcomm. Just because Apple and Qualcomm made a business decision in their best interests, doesn't mean that Qualcomm isn't dirty.

Intel announcement translation: We're falling woefully behind in low-power high-speed chip design and can't compete with the likes of Qualcomm, so we're going to focus our efforts on 5G for laptops and tablets in the x86 market where we can get away with installing chips that consume 3x the power of other chip designs.
 
Huawei just isn't an option for Apple and I'm guessing, Apple knew Intel wasn't going to be in the game, which is why they settled with Qualcomm.

No other manufacturer in the world uses a standalone modem like Apple. Everyone integrates into the SoC. Intel bet their modem business on Apple but lost to Qualcomm
 
Antitrust regulators should continue their investigations into Qualcomm. Just because Apple and Qualcomm made a business decision in their best interests, doesn't mean that Qualcomm isn't dirty.

Intel announcement translation: We're falling woefully behind in low-power high-speed chip design and can't compete with the likes of Qualcomm, so we're going to focus our efforts on 5G for laptops and tablets in the x86 market where we can get away with installing chips that consume 3x the power of other chip designs.

Heck, if anything the fact that a major competitor is now gone means Qualcomm has even more market power.
 
I get the sense Apples deal with Qualcomm was not the result Intel was looking for.
it's more like intel had known this all along but apple would have told intel to not announce this until after the litigation settles... because if the litigation doesn't go through then apple would've no choice but to float intel to keep the 5g project alive.

settlement was great news for everyone involved:
Qualcomm to now get apple revenue
Apple avoids having to work around Qualcomm's royalty structures
Intel avoids having to float a project that doesn't make sense long term, given the competitive landscape of smartphone chips
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roger67
Qualcom is one step above a patent troll. They are not offering much of anything. And if Apple is developing their own modem chip, if they care enough to, in 2 years time Qualcom will feel the pain.

It's a six year deal with an additional two year option.
Possible eight years for a Qualcomm and Apple marriage.
I think everyone now understands that making a cellular modem is non-trivial.
 
What? Were you in the room seeing the final deal? We have no idea what the final result was. As in most court cases, both sides compromised on something of there would be no settlement.

Interesting. I was going to guess that an Apple hater will contort himself into spinning this into yet another Apple-bashing opportunity instead of actually giving a useful, clever, or informative answer. But yours is fine too.

Of course, everyone likes to talk big like the know it alls.

None has any clue what was agreed to. And it all comes down to the mighty dollar. If QC's modems were cheaper than Intel or anything Apple could do in house then they are saving a LOT of money in the long run settling now.

People quickly forget the sheet scale apple works in. Even 50 cents each times tens of millions of devices (or more depending on how many models they continue with) is a huge amount of money.

If apple saves tens of millions of dollars per year just on modem chips thats a win for them in their pocket assuming they dont reduce prices. Not spent in legal fees fighting with no end and no 5g chip.

Everything comes down to dollars in this type of litigation. But of course out comes the Apple is QC's b*tch blah blah crap talk
 
Last edited:
I'm bummed Intel couldn't deliver and because of that Apple couldn't disrupt Qualcomm's bad behavior. Apple just could not go through the 2020 fall release with 4G Intel modems.

The reason to bother is the world is going mobile.

You are exactly right. If Intel were to focus on servers (abandon PC's etc.) it would only last for a while before ARM would take over servers. Intel did that experiment with their own special server only chips EPIC (I believe that was the instruction set) that they have nearly totally killed now.

Intel needs to keep PC's and give Apple CPU's at cost to keep Macs on x64 or their market - world will do a slow motion crumble. This seems inevitable though with the expectation of Apple moving to ARM on Macs.
 
Last edited:
in the smartphone modem business it has become apparent that there is no clear path to profitability and positive returns
Interesting comment by the CEO. Are the other modem makers losing money?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.