Apple has begun building their own internal cellular modem for future devices, a move that would replace components from Qualcomm, Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, told staff in a virtual meeting on Thursday.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Qualcomm shares dropped as much as 6.3% in extended trading.
“This year, we kicked off the development of our first internal cellular modem which will enable another key strategic transition,” [Srouji] said. “Long-term strategic investments like these are a critical part of enabling our products and making sure we have a rich pipeline of innovative technologies for our future.”
Srouji said the $1 billion acquisition of Intel Corp.’s modem business in 2019 helped Apple build a team of hardware and software engineers to develop its own cellular modem… The latest iPhones with 5G use parts from Qualcomm. Before that, Apple used Intel parts for a few years and then purchased that business unit from the chipmaker.
The move extends Apple’s push toward greater reliance on its own parts at the expense of Qualcomm, Intel and others.
MacDailyNews Take: Eliminate the middleman.
• I’ve always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do. — Steve Jobs, October 12, 2004
• In order to build the best products, you have to own the primary technologies. Steve felt that if Apple could do that — make great products and great tools for people — they in turn would do great things. He felt strongly that this would be his contribution to the world at large. We still very much believe that. That’s still the core of this company. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, March 18, 2015