TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Apple is currently having issues with its partner, Qualcomm, regarding its 5G chip. Qualcomm, now Apple’s sole supplier of 5G chips after Intel withdrew.
In fact, Apple bought the division modem Intel with the idea of ditching Qualcomm and switching to an internal modem. Analysts of Might-Chi Kuo recently reported that it may not happen according to the initial schedule in 2023.
iPhone 15 is expected to be the first in the lineup to use chip Apple’s in-house 5G instead of Qualcomm is used in the current model.
Apple has for years used Qualcomm modem chips – radio chips that provide cellular data connectivity. When the iPhone 12 launched in 2020, it again relied on Qualcomm chips to provide 5G capabilities.
Specifically, the iPhone maker was annoyed that Qualcomm was “playing double” by selling the company a chip, and then demanding patent royalty fees for using the technology in the same chip.
Relationships fall apart. Qualcomm accused Apple of blackmail. The CEOs of the two companies held a “hostile” meeting. Qualcomm refuses to sell chips to Apple for the iPhone XS and XR. The two companies put aside previous talks about a settlement and vowed to fight it completely. A multi-billion dollar dispute begins.
Apple’s plan is to temporarily switch from Qualcomm modem chips to Intel chips while working on its own radio chip design. Unfortunately, those plans fell through when Intel announced it was exiting the 5G smartphone modem business.
Since it would be several years before Apple’s own chip designs were ready, it left the company with no choice but to make up for it with Qualcomm. An out-of-court settlement was quickly reached.
To speed up work on the internal 5G modem chip, Apple bought Intel’s modem division.
Apple’s 5G chip problem
By acquiring Intel technology, Apple was recently reported to be on track to have its own 5G chip design ready for production in next year’s iPhone 15.
However, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said this week that this is no longer the case, and said it was due to a “development failure.”
The latest survey suggests that Apple’s own development of iPhone 5G modem chips may have failed, so Qualcomm will remain the exclusive supplier of 5G chips for new iPhones in 2023, with a 100 percent supply share. When compared to the company’s previous estimate of 20 percent.
But a new report suggests that the problem isn’t with chip development itself, but rather a legal issue over patents.
To design its own chip, Apple had to cancel two of Qualcomm’s patents. Relations between the two grew heated despite a settlement, all the way to the US Supreme Court. Unfortunately for Apple, the court rejected his appeal.
Patently Apple mentions that it’s not a technical hitch as the reason Apple won’t be able to use its own 5G chips next year, but because that would infringe on two of Qualcomm’s patents. The site links to a lengthy Foss Patents analysis that does seem to support this interpretation, which suggests Qualcomm will sue Apple and win.
In the Qualcomm v. Hypothetical Apple 2025 or 2027, the two patents mentioned above will most likely be asserted again.
Apple still licenses Qualcomm’s patents at this time, but the two sides are unlikely to reach an agreement on a suitable payment to renew them.
GSM ARENA | 9TO5MAC
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