Apple had a difficult relationship with Qualcomm, which was the company’s sole supplier of the 5G chip after Intel withdrew. In fact, Apple bought Intel’s modem division with the idea of ditching Qualcomm and switching to internal modems. Analyst Migh-Chi Kuo recently reported that this may not happen according to the original timeline (H2 2023).
However, the implication was that the technology was not ready. Now FOSS patents presents an opposite point of view: the problem with Apple’s 5G efforts is legal, not technical.
Apple has a licensing agreement with Qualcomm that expires in 2025 and has an option to extend until 2027. It was originally thought that Apple would switch to internal modems before then, but now that seems unlikely.
The funny thing is, there are two patents that are hindering Apple’s progress, but they don’t have much to do with 5G. One allows the user to reject a call with a text message (eg “I’m busy”), the other is for the app switching interface.
Here’s the kicker: If Apple switches to its internal modem, Qualcomm will sue for the patents in question. The two patents expire in 2029 and 2030, respectively, and Apple’s attempt to cancel them was halted on Monday when the Supreme Court decided not to listen to Apple’s offer to re-launch the patent challenge.
Apple initially hoped that by the end of 2023 Qualcomm will only provide 20% of the modems it needs, not 100%. But if Florian Mueller is right, that’s not happening and Apple will have to continue buying from Qualcomm and paying license fees.
Start a new Thread