Apple is moving to in-house 5G modem chips for its 2024 iPhones, so far as the chief executive of Qualcomm — which currently produces them for the tech giant — is aware.
“We’re making no plans for 2024, my planning assumption is we’re not providing [Apple] a modem in ’24, however it’s their decision to make,” Cristiano Amon told CNBC on the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Apple’s most up-to-date iPhone 14 models use Qualcomm modems, but the corporate has been seeking to go solo within the wireless connectivity marketplace for some years.
It bought Intel’s modem business in 2019 and there had been speculation it might begin using in-house parts this 12 months.
In an interview with CNBC’s Karen Tso and Arjun Kharpal, Amon said Qualcomm had told investors back in 2021 that it didn’t expect to offer modems for the iPhone in 2023, but Apple then decided to proceed for an additional 12 months.
Amon didn’t confirm whether Apple would pay Qualcomm QTL licenses if it moves to its own modems, but said royalty was “independent from providing a chip.”
Qualcomm has been diversifying its business into automotive semiconductors and low-power applications.
Amon also addressed the united stateslawsuit filed against Qualcomm by British semiconductor firm Arm. The legal battle between two of the world’s biggest chip designers comes as Qualcomm seeks to grow within the PC market; to achieve this, it acquired an organization called Nuvia, whose server chips are based on Arm architecture.
Arm contends it needs a license to make use of the chip designs and is in search of damages and to force Qualcomm to destroy various information and hardware related to the acquisition.
“It’s extremely unlucky, this litigation, but the fact is we’ve got very broad rights to the Arm IP, certainly one of their early licensees,” Amon said. “We feel pretty good a few solution and we’re just moving forward with our plans. And all of our customers are very enthusiastic about what we’re doing on this area.”
On a report by the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. government is considering revoking export licenses for U.S. suppliers to Huawei, Amon said: “We do have licenses to sell 4G chips to Huawei. We’re being compliant through our license, but we’ve got not yet seen any motion.”
He called the U.S. Chips and Science Act a “great point” that had encouraged corporations like TSMC and Samsung to construct facilities within the country.
A revocation of its license would end in a financial hit to Qualcomm, he said, but stressed the corporate was more diversified and provided corporations including Samsung, Opal and Honor with modems and was growing in automotives and the web of things.
