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Qualcomm Expecting to Supply Just 20% of 2023 iPhone Modems As Apple Prepares to Launch Its Own Chips

jz0309 said:
That s some odd statements by a CFO, and it’s a planning assumption, so a prep statement for investors which will come to fruition sooner or later.
I just don’t see Apple jumping full into their own modems hastily, there’s got to be a pipe cleaner, there is just no Apple modem running in the real world yet.
Yes, Apple has experience in SOC but modes are a different class of chips…
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That is an odd statement. And as much as I like Apple, I'm a bit skeptical they'll develop a modem chip using their own IP that will meet/exceed Qualcomm's performance.

Qualcomm has such a deep well and history with respect to digital communications. And with that I have a ton of respect for its founders and achievements.

Hoping Apple pulls it off!
 
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bushman4 said:
Qualcomm shot itself in the leg with the legal battle with Apple
Yes Qualcomm makes other stuff besides 5G modems but is it enough to make up for the $$$$ it lost with Apple? Time will tell
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Qualcomm was always going to lose Apple’s business eventually. Apple’s stated objective is to own and control the primary technologies in their products. One day, they’ll probably make their own displays, too.

About that legal battle… Qualcomm didn’t shoot themselves in the leg. They handed Apple’s backside to them on a plate.
 
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Mr Lizard said:
People thought the same about their SoC. Then they introduced GPU performance comparable to Nvidea with a fraction of the power draw.
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Not that I'm aware of. And certainly not me. Hiring Johny Srouji a dozen or so years ago was key.

Modem chip designs involving a ton of digital communications theory are much different than CPU/GPUs. That's Qualcomm's strength.

Again...I'm rooting for Apple.
 
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citysnaps said:
That is an odd statement. And as much as I like Apple, I'm a bit skeptical they'll develop a modem chip using their own IP that will meet/exceed Qualcomm's performance.

Qualcomm has such a deep well and history with respect to digital communications. And with that I have a ton of respect for its founders and achievements.

Hoping Apple pulls it off!
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Agree, I think this statement is taken out of context somewhat as QCOM is holding its investors day today and made some announcements shifting gear into new markets.
I do hope that QCOM can pull off in the SOC market like what Apple did with M1, more competition for x86 will be great.
I am confident that Apple can pull of its modem chips, I’m still baffled that people think they go all in on a new iPhone (15) vs a phased approach
 
SumYoungGai said:
Intel chips left much to be desired w.r.t signal strength and speed. I'm not saying that Apple's 5G modem will be the same as Intel's from 2016-2019, but I am worried that they will be inferior to Qualcomm again.
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And I think that is a valid concern and also why I think they will choose. Phased approach, eg ipad and maybe Mac first
 
There will still be some royalties going to Qualcomm on each iPhone, due to the massive patent collection they hold on 5G technologies.

But surely less profit than a a fully branded SoC.

Which is good to thing the market overall. More variety of 5G modems and less vulnerability to supply constrains.
 
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TheYayAreaLiving ? said:
Wow! This will be huge! If Apple brings its own chips. Looks like 80% of the chips will be in-house by Apple.

Expecting aggressive performance results like this on an iPhone ??

2022, is the year Apple becomes independent.

View attachment 1911765
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You mean 2023 is the year APPLE becomes independent right?

I don't remember the full details or exact quote but I remember at one point in Apple history, Steve Jobs said that he wanted iPhone communication to go away from cellular companies and use Apple satellites/broadband systems of their own. Kind of like what Space X is doing with their Starlink technology. Whatever happened to that plan?
 
I wonder if Apple will put it into the iPhone first, or play it safe and put it an iPad or MacBook first, where the modem is less important. Remember, Apple’s first chip, the A4, launched in the iPad. And if 80% of iPhones use Apple modems in 2023, that probably means all the iPhone 15 will use them, with the remaining 20% being older phones. That could mean we might see an iPad with an Apple designed modem as early as mid- 2023.

I do hope that this foretells the arrival of cellular on the Mac. I think it’s safe to assume that the Apple modem will be integrated into the SoC. With the iPad Pro and MacBook Air literally sharing an SoC, and the iPad having had a cellular option for years, it would literally be no extra work to give that option to the MacBook Air. Plus they won’t be held hostage to Qualcomm’s abusive licensing terms (I think they charge more for expensive devices, and Macs cost more than iPhones and iPads) which is what I suspect has been holding back cellular before.
 
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huge_apple_fangirl said:
I wonder if Apple will put it into the iPhone first, or play it safe and put it an iPad or MacBook first, where the modem is less important. Remember, Apple’s first chip, the A4, launched in the iPad. And if 80% of iPhones use Apple modems in 2023, that probably means all the iPhone 15 will use them, with the remaining 20% being older phones. That could mean we might see an iPad with an Apple designed modem as early as mid- 2023.
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It would be a smart move if they introduce their new modem on the iPad first, so they can polish any technical issues early on a low-key 5G device, before going widespread on the iPhone.
 
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Kazgarth said:
There will still be some royalties going to Qualcomm on each iPhone, due to the massive patent collection they hold on 5G technologies.

But surely less profit than a a fully branded SoC.

Which is good to thing the market overall. More variety of 5G modems and less venerability to supply constrains.
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Apple will be in a much better negotiating position once they no longer need Qualcomm’s modems. Before, if they tried to argue against the royalties, Qualcomm could threaten to withhold the modems Apple needs, as they did during their legal battle. Apple was hoping Intel could give them an alternative and give them leverage over Qualcomm, but Qualcomm called their bluff- Intel couldn’t deliver a competitive chip (surprise, surprise)- and Apple was forced to come crawling back to Qualcomm for 5G. Once Apple has their own modems, they won’t need Qualcomm anymore and I wouldn’t be surprised if they start re-litigating royalties.
 
Mr Lizard said:
People thought the same about their SoC. Then they introduced GPU performance comparable to Nvidea with a fraction of the power draw.
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Apple's flagship GPU is not comparable in performance to Nvidia. Dedicated GPU's outperform integrated gpu's by 3 to 5 times. They may win on power efficiency but that is mostly irrelevant.
 
I will be cautiously optimistic. I hated the iPhone X with the Intel modem inside. That modem would crash all the time and I would not realize it until I went to place a call. Only a reboot would get things going again. And of course it was not until after the reboot that I would see all the missed calls and e-mails. I had to buy the Qualcomm version of the iPhone X and stuck with that until iPhone 12.
 
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