Apple moves to eliminate Qualcomm chip on next iPhone / iPad

While lawsuits with Qualcomm that supplies LTE modem chips to iPhone and iPad are being held, Apple is looking for directions to adopt chips made by another vendor such as Intel for the next iPhone and iPad afterwards It is reported that it is.

Apple Is Designing iPhones, iPads That Would Drop Qualcomm Components - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-is-designing-iphones-ipads-that-would-drop-qualcomm-components-1509408668

Apple Is Designing iPhones, iPads Without Qualcomm Parts, Source Says - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-31/apple-designing-iphones-ipads-without-qualcomm-parts-wsj-says

This information was provided anonymously from persons familiar with the circumstances of both companies. In keeping with the preface that "Since development is still in its early stages, it is possible that the situation will change in the future", the information provider said that Apple has quit the Qualcomm chip that has been adopted in almost all models so far , It states that it has a policy to use the LTE modem chip made by Intel and MediaTek.

To date Apple's terminals have almost exclusively been using Qualcomm's LTE modem, with the exception that Intel chips were used in several models since iPhone 7. For Apple, there is not a few risks to transfer from a vendor that has been proven to another, but there are probably shadows of litigation matters between the two companies there.

In 2016 Apple makes an appeal to Qualcomm for about $ 1 billion (about 120 billion yen) to pay outstandings. This calls for Qualcomm to implement payment obligations owed to Apple based on the contracts of both companies.

Apple filed suit against Qualcomm for payment of 120 billion yen, Qualcomm notes "No grounds" - GIGAZINE


Later, Apple refused to pay to Qualcomm claiming royalty claims are excessive. In contrast to Qualcomm, in July 2017, we are asking the U.S. government to stop importing and selling iPhone to the United States.

Qualcomm requests the US government to stop importing and selling iPhone - GIGAZINE


While this situation has caused leaks of this information, Apple is a customer who accounts for much of sales for Qualcomm, so it is expected that impact will be considerable. Qualcomm's iPhone related order received from Apple is projected to be 1.75 billion dollars (about 200 billion yen), which is about 7.5% of the total sales of 23.5 billion dollars (about 2.7 trillion yen) in 2016 Corresponding amount. In response to this report, Qualcomm's stock price has declined by 8.1%, which is the largest daytime downgrade this year, to 50.25 dollars (about 5722 yen). On the other hand, Apple shares climbed 1.2% to 168.78 dollars (about 19,219 yen).

In response, Apple responds to Bloomberg "We will not comment on future models." Qualcomm to Bloomberg "Qualcomm's next modem chip for iPhone has already been developed and released to Apple, Qualcomm's wireless solution is a representative for premium class smartphones." In fact, Intel and MediaTek modem chips are said to be even worse in performance than Qualcomm's modems, so Apple is not likely to make an easy decision.