“Since iPhone 7, Apple has shared baseband chip orders for iPhones with Qualcomm and Intel,” Benjamin Mayo reports for 9to5Mac. “For the 2018 iPhones, KGI reports that Apple is set to rely on Intel as the exclusive supplier, amidst Apple’s ongoing legal battles with Qualcomm.”
“KGI says Intel can meet Apple’s technical requirements and offers more competitive prices,” Mayo reports.
“In November, KGI reported that Apple will improve LTE transmission speeds significantly by supporting 4×4 MIMO chipsets. At the time, Ming-Chi Kuo believed Apple would give about 30% of the orders to Qualcomm,” Mayo reports. “He is now claiming that Qualcomm will be excluded from 2018 iPhones altogether.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is putting the squeeze on Qualcomm. They’ll be coming to the negotiating table with their collective tail between their legs, if they’re not acquired by Broadcom first.
SEE ALSO:
EU fines chipmaker Qualcomm $1.2 billion for paying Apple to shut out rivals’ chips – January 24, 2018
Intel working with Apple to bring super-fast 5G to future iPhones – November 17, 2017
Qualcomm fined record $773 million in Taiwan antitrust probe – October 11, 2017
Apple ships more microprocessors than Intel – October 2, 2017
Apple’s A11 Bionic obliterates top chips from Qualcomm, Samsung and Huawei – September 18, 2017
Qualcomm CEO expects out of court settlement with Apple – July 18, 2017
I’m pretty sure Qualcomm will still demand royalties from Intel for its LTE SEPs.
The question is will Intel pay royalties for the chipset or for anything the chipset rests on??? That was the contention for Qualcomm being ousted in the first place.
No. The original problem was the fact that Qualcomm was charging Apple more money than it does to other phone manufacturers. Qualcomm was basing their fees on the cost of the final product (i.e. cost of an iPhone). Apple competitors selling $200 phones got the exact same chips for a fraction of the price.
Sure, Intel will have to pay for whatever IP it might be licensing from Qualcomm. But that is Intel’s problem, not Apple’s problem.
Apple must be getting a much better deal for the Intel chipsets or it would be focusing on its deal and lawsuit with Qualcomm rather than strongly courting Intel as a potential new exclusive chipset supplier. In the longer term, the Qualcomm mess is yet more incentive to pull another piece of the silicon under Apple’s corporate umbrella. With a little work, Apple could spin off a division to squash Qualcomm, if it desired.
Don’t count on it. Intel may be cross-licensed (i.e. no cash exchanged) through various acquisitions it made in the recent past.
Not if Broadcom succeeds in taking over QCOM. perhaps a hiatus until the deal closes.
I wonder what Broadcom thinks about these developments?
Not sure what you’re saying here.
What does the Broadcom attempted acquisition of Qualcomm have to do with this? I see nothing.
Qualcomm shares fall! What a laugh. More like a tiny drop? Qualcomm shares will quickly recover as Broadcom continues to sweeten the pot. It would probably make sense to buy Qualcomm shares now rather than sell them off. As far as I can tell, Qualcomm shares have been holding quite strong since the Broadcom bid considering that crappy EPS Qualcomm is sporting. Imagine if Apple had an EPS like that. Apple would be declared dead. I’m not hearing any bells tolling for Qualcomm. Actually, Qualcomm shareholders are going to make out like bandits when Broadcom purchases the company. It’s good to hold the right stock at just the right time.
The only thing that really looks good for Qualcomm is that fat dividend yield of 3.59. Damn, that is sweet. What’s Apple’s dividend yield? Umm… 1.56.
I can just picture Qualcomm’s arrogant CEO when Broadcom takes over. He’ll be fuming and spitting fire when they toss him to the curb.
What can Broadcom do? I see no good path forward.
Broadcom is offering $121 billion for Qualcomm.
Does this somehow allow Qualcomm to drop their price?
On the contrary, I would expect Broadcom to try to extract more money out of the arrangement (that’s what they do) but I don’t see how that is possible with a competitor providing better pricing.
Oh Qualcomm. Wake The F’ Up Please. You’ll be much happier when you drop the D’head attitude.