Cook CEO directs design and manufacturing of communications semiconductors in 2018
(Photo: AP/Afro)
Apple’s recently released new smartphone “iPhone 15” series is equipped with communication semiconductors developed in-house, on which the company has spent years and billions of dollars (hundreds of billions of yen). do not have.The reason for this was the huge failure of the project within Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal.reporting。
Is there a problem with the internal structure?
According to the newspaper, Apple CEO Tim Cook ordered Apple to design and manufacture communications chips for the iPhone in 2018. This resulted in the hiring of thousands of engineers. Apple planned to equip the iPhone 15 with the communication semiconductor developed in this way. However, operational tests conducted at the end of 2022 revealed that it was too slow and easily overheated. The circuit board was so large that it took up half of the iPhone, making it unusable.
Apple’s engineering team working on communications semiconductors was plagued by technical issues, poor communication, and conflicting opinions among managers. In addition, the team was split between the U.S. and outside the U.S., leaving it without a global leader. Some managers were hesitant to share information about development delays and challenges, which led to unrealistic goal setting and failure to reach goals.
On September 11, US semiconductor giant Qualcomm announced that it had signed a three-year contract with Apple to supply communication semiconductors for the iPhone.revealed。
Apple, which is developing its own communications semiconductors, was expected to end its procurement contract with Qualcomm in 2023 and switch to self-developed products starting with the iPhone released in 2024. However, with this agreement, Qualcomm will supply 5G (fifth generation mobile communication system) compatible semiconductors for iPhones (iPhone 16, iPhone 17, iPhone 18, all tentative names) to be released in 2024, 2025, and 2026. I decided to do it. Additionally, the patent license agreement signed by the two companies in 2019 will continue. This agreement expires in 2025, but both companies have the option to extend it for two years.
