Qualcomm on Monday (11 September) announced a new deal with big tech Apple to supply Snapdragon 5G Modem‑RF Systems until 2026. This is a golden opportunity for Qualcomm as Apple is facing increasing challenges in China and will want to reinforce its supply chain elsewhere.

This agreement is worth billions of dollars for Qualcomm at least for the next three years. It mildly indicates that the iPhone maker is not rushing out its own modem. However, Apple moved all the computers to the M3 processing chips of their own design.

Rising Stock Prices Amid the Renewed Partnership

The 2019 Chip Supply Deal

Final Words

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Apple’s Failed Endeavours   

As Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo writes, Apple’s efforts to develop its own 5G modem chip have not yielded an adequate replacement. He says that Apple’s efforts thus far “have failed”. His latest supply-side surveys indicated that Apple was unable to develop a custom 5G modem of its own in time for the 2023 iPhone series (iPhone 15).   

Due to the rumoured delays in development, Kuo believes that Apple will resort to using Qualcomm modems for the 2023 iPhones again. Previously, Qualcomm executives had warned investors that it expected to lose up to 80% of the Apple business by 2023, as Apple planned to use its chip instead.   

History of the Apple-Qualcomm Association  

Apple and Qualcomm have long been partners, but the relationship has also been bittersweet. A few years ago, Apple and Qualcomm engaged in fierce litigation across multiple jurisdictions. Ultimately, the lawsuit either created or accelerated Apple’s desire to kick Qualcomm to the curb. During the litigation, Apple argued that Qualcomm was profiting from Apple innovations that had nothing to do with modem chips. Moreover, it sued Qualcomm for $1 billion in the US. The companies faced off in courts around the world over Qualcomm’s licensing fees and how it sold its chips.  

Later in 2019, the companies signed a settlement that included a six-year patent licensing agreement and an arrangement to use Qualcomm parts. The chipset agreement indicated that Qualcomm would supply some but not all 5G modems for iPhones to Apple through 2024, according to a statement of work released as part of court documents.  

Although Apple ultimately settled its lawsuit with Qualcomm in 2019, by then, work on an Apple-designed 5G modem was already underway. However, as a part of the deal, Apple acquired all of Intel’s IP and modem technology equipment.   

Apple’s acquisition only solidified its 5G plans and its underlying desire to remove Qualcomm as a supplier. It stands to reason that an iPhone with an Apple-designed 5G modem is an issue of when as opposed to it.     

Can Apple Ever Manufacture a Futuristic Tech Gadget?  

In recent years, various rumours had pointed to Apple using their own 5G modems on all iPhone models, starting with the iPhone 15 in 2023. That is seemingly not the case anymore. Apple has long preferred to own the underlying technologies used in its products. However, these days, the entirety of Apple’s hardware lineup utilizes processors featuring Apple designs.  

Moreover, shortly after Kuo’s tweet, Qualcomm shares climbed more than 3%. An Apple representative declined to comment. Apple has thousands of people working on the initiative and has a strong track record. Thus, while a 5G iPhone with an Apple-designed modem may not be coming on the iPhone 15, others suggested that it might be ready to ship in time for the 2025 iPhone release.     

Read Also : Shocking New Leaks on iPhone 14 Series Makes Us Think Whether Past Rumors are Inaccurate 

Anwesha Mishra

Anwesha has been a creative writer for a while. Currently, on her pursuit of tech writing, she is diving into the realms of technology to produce better content on the forever-changing world of technology. In her free time, you’ll find her humming tunes of her favourite shows or reading a book.

The post Apple’s Efforts to Become a Futuristic Tech Gadget Failed! Read How. appeared first on Tech Research Online.

Even though this revelation is not particularly shocking, but what makes this announcement significant is that the revamped version of Wear OS by Google and Samsung should premiere around the world.   

This hints towards an upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear chip which is an upgrade from the present SD Wear 4100. And, also offers new abilities to match the credentials of the new wearable OS.  

Pankaj Kedia, senior director and global head of smart wearables at Qualcomm, in a press release, said “Our Snapdragon Wear platforms are driving the industry, powering smartwatches for kids, seniors, and adults and smart trackers for pets and accessories.”  

He added, “We are significantly growing our investments in leading-edge ground-up silicon, platforms, and technologies and plan to roll out new Snapdragon Wear platforms across segments over the next year to meet our long-term vision.”  

Also Read: Qualcomm Has Launched Snapdragon 780G for 5G Mobile Platform

Alongside this announcement, Qualcomm announced the Wearables Ecosystem Accelerator Program. The program is intended to help the company bring together a full stack of stakeholders in the wearable industry. such as “device manufacturers (OEMs), service providers, platform players, independent hardware and software vendors (IHVs and ISVs), and system integrators.”   

Qualcomm hopes that the program will help them produce budget watches and develop more applications of wearables.  

In the past five years, the company claims that they have successfully shipped over 40 million Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear chips across nearly 75 manufacturers.   

However, this isn’t a particularly tall number in comparison to other competitors. For instance, IDC data claimed that last year, Apple shipped over 21 million Apple Watches in the first three months of 2020 around the world.   

This means that Apple was able to shop more than half the number of devices in 20x less time than Qualcomm managed to contribute to in five years.   

While there is no additional information about the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear chip, however, it will be interesting to see the company manages to separate these chips from what they already offer.  

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Snapdragon 780G is designed to deliver brilliant camera capture and powerful AI performance backed by the Qualcomm Spectra 570 triple ISP and 6th generation. Qualcomm’s AI Engine also allows users to enhance and share their precious moments seamlessly.  

The platform enables premium-tier features making next-generation experiences accessible for the first time in the 7-series.  

Late Thursday, in a statement, Kedar Kondap, VP, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, said “Since introducing the Snapdragon 7-series three years ago, more than 350 devices have launched based on 7-series mobile platforms. Today, we are continuing this momentum by introducing the Snapdragon 780G 5G Mobile Platform.”  

The new Qualcomm Spectra 570 and Snapdragon 780G are the first 7-series platform with a triple Image Signal Processor (ISP). They are capable of capturing simultaneously from three cameras.  

Snapdragon 780G is powered by the 6th generation AI Engine with the Qualcomm Hexagon 770 processor delivering up to 12 TOPs AI performance. 

Also Read: Qualtrics Announces Delighted AI To Automate Every Step Of The Customer Feedback Process

Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Gaming features is the chipset that comes fully optimized with a suite. The platform delivers desktop-level capabilities with dozens of mobile-first features including updateable ultra-smooth gaming, GPU drivers, and True 10-bit HDR gaming.  

For the first time, the platform takes on the premium Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth audio features to the 7-series. This also includes a recently debuted Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound technology, the Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 Connectivity System. 

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