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Intel Exiting 5G Smartphone Modem Business, Won't Make 5G iPhone Chips at All

JPack said:
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.
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Suuuure.

Qualcomm has lost every antitrust case so far. EVERY ONE. They couldn’t afford another loss, especially a high profile one with Apple.

Plus Huawei’s CEO said the other day they’d be willing to work with Apple on 5G.

The most likely scenario is a battered Qualcomm staring at another financial and PR loss along with Huawei willing to work with Apple is what caused Qualcomm to cave.
 
hagjohn said:
Intel didn't lose to Qualcomm, they lost it themselves by not being able to produce a good product.
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This was all multi-year plan by Apple to get Qualcomm on their knees. Apple needed a company to play against Qualcomm and Intel agreed to go along because Apple is probably their biggest customer. Apple suppliers tend to lose and Intel wasn't making enough and was also getting slammed for inferior engineering without Apple having their back. Intel didn't lose too much, got some IP, it can focus on it's core business, grow its Optane memory business. Anyway Apple will probably drop the Mac in a few years anyway, until then they're stuck with Intel.
 
Roger67 said:
This was all multi-year plan by Apple to get Qualcomm on their knees. Apple needed a company to play against Qualcomm and Intel agreed to go along because Apple is probably their biggest customer. Apple suppliers tend to lose and Intel wasn't making enough and was also getting slammed for inferior engineering without Apple having their back. Intel didn't lose too much, got some IP, it can focus on it's core business, grow its Optane memory business. Anyway Apple will probably drop the Mac in a few years anyway, until then they're stuck with Intel.
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Wrong, Apple is not their bigger customer, Amazon is ten of times more important for Intel than Apple (Amazon WS host services)
 
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Roger67 said:
This was all multi-year plan by Apple to get Qualcomm on their knees. Apple needed a company to play against Qualcomm and Intel agreed to go along because Apple is probably their biggest customer. Apple suppliers tend to lose and Intel wasn't making enough and was also getting slammed for inferior engineering without Apple having their back. Intel didn't lose too much, got some IP, it can focus on it's core business, grow its Optane memory business. Anyway Apple will probably drop the Mac in a few years anyway, until then they're stuck with Intel.
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Honestly, if Intel didn't have such a slimy past, I'd have thought you were nuts. But your theory makes complete sense to me given how shady Intel is.
 
1144557 said:
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.

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.
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If Apple wanted to save money, they'd do it in house. Period.

The fundamental problem is that Qualcomm, and Intel, and anybody else's discrete modem solution requires a separate chip. That's money, board space, power consumption and decreased reliability.

That's how Qualcomm's Snapdragon is made, the baseband is integrated into the application processor.
 
Art Mark said:
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.
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Do you honestly believe Apple is going to pop up with a 5G modem in 2 years and it will beat Qualcomm's? Oh man that's funny, not only does QC own the house Apple would need to license patents from them. I don't see Apple having a competing modem ready for at least another six seven years.
 
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I would like to know why Intel can't turn a profit in smartphone modems but Qualcomm can.
 
warp9 said:
I would like to know why Intel can't turn a profit in smartphone modems but Qualcomm can.
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Simply because Qualcomm holds key patents for modems and Intel was late to the party. Anyway profits compared to other Intel products are much lower since most Intel fabs are not efficient for making modems...so yield is low and Apple is not a big costumer for Intel, samsung sales are bigger in the the world and they have their own modems and agreements.
 
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I understand why the 2019 iPhone can't get 5G, but why can't it get the Qualcomm 4G modem? It's not like it would be at all out of character for Apple to have designed the phone to work with Qualcomm modems even if they didn't have access to them at the time.
 
Zenithal said:
Honestly, if Intel didn't have such a slimy past, I'd have thought you were nuts. But your theory makes complete sense to me given how shady Intel is.
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Some of it is from articles about the Apple Qualcomm trial's opening statements.

It's just business for both Apple and Intel. Not any more cuthroat than other companies when so much is on the line. Cook has been acting as Apple's hatchet man over their supply chain. His job is to manipulate the market in order to squeeze as much and pay as little as possible to suppliers. No different than someone brought in to manage labor costs.
 
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QC market cap is 85 Billion. Apple should just buy them and end all their problems. Of course it would have been 20% less before the announcement.I think that owning QC patents would be worth it.
 
Apple’s iPhone is one of the most expensive phones on the market. The pile of trash that is the intel modem in the X series of iPhones is complete garbage. Apple used to put the very best parts in their phones that smoked the competition. Their processor, bar none, is the best feature and their advantage. Having a miserable modem is a huge downside to buying a $1500 phone.

Apple used to pony up and pay for the best tech in their most important product. Not having Qualcomm modems was the single stupidest mistake they have made in the last couple years. It’s dramatically affected the iPhone’s potential.

I’m extremely happy they’re going back to Qualcomm although I’m incredibly upset it’s too late for the upcoming 2019 models. They should do whatever it takes to get Qualcomm chips back in this year’s phones. I’m not sure I will upgrade my 512GB XS Max to whatever new phone it is this year if it’s not equipped with a Qualcomm modem. It’s just too high of a premium to pay for vastly inferior tech.
 
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RE: "Apple is said to be sticking with Intel chips in 2019 because it's too late for the company to adopt Qualcomm's chips, but in 2020, Qualcomm may be Apple's only chip supplier once again."

I disagree with that assessment !

With today's announcement, the Normal Schedule (i.e., new iPhones ONLY/mostly in Sept) is now Out the Window !
 
Roger67 said:
Some of it is from articles about the Apple Qualcomm trial's opening statements.

It's just business for both Apple and Intel. Not any more cuthroat than other companies when so much is on the line. Cook has been acting as Apple's hatchet man over their supply chain. His job is to manipulate the market in order to squeeze as much and pay as little as possible to suppliers. No different than someone brought in to manage labor costs.
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Except Intel is known for devising evil that eventually gets them heavily fined. If it comes out your theory holds water, both companies will eventually be fined by regulators. That said, Cook knows what he's doing if history is anything to go by.
 
People who assume it is too late to put in the upcoming iPhone cycle don't take into account Apple may have designed a version
of the upcoming iPhone to use the Qualcomm chip as they probably have thought about the scenario of settling with Qualcomm many months ago. In fact TC said in an interview in January that they were getting closer to possibly finding a solution with QC, A lot of stuff happens behind the scenes.
 
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Intel exiting 5G and Qualcomm and Apple settleing is the best news yet
As we all know from previous iPhones Qual mom imakes speedier modems
 
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