On December 11, insiders revealed that the person in charge of Apple stated during a meeting at Apple that Apple will start research and development of the first cellular modem in 2020. This product will be used in Apple products in the future, preparing to replace Qualcomm's mobile chips. However, as soon as this news came out, Qualcomm's stock price began to fall.
Because the company has launched a plan to independently develop 5G baseband chips, this means that if this plan is successfully developed, the modems in Apple mobile phones with relatively high hardware costs will no longer use Qualcomm’s x55 Chip. Apple's move also greatly reduces its dependence on Qualcomm. At present, about 11% of Qualcomm's revenue comes from Apple.
In July last year, Apple announced that it had acquired most of Intel’s smartphone baseband business for US$1 billion. And in December, the two parties officially completed their transaction. After completion, Apple obtained 170 million wireless technology patents, and more than 2,000 Intel employees joined Apple. This also undoubtedly shows Apple’s goal of significantly reducing its dependence on Qualcomm.
It was originally the most unfavorable situation for Apple, because Huawei and Samsung were already giants in the field of mobile communications before Qualcomm, and they also held many core patents in mobile communications. Modern technology companies have solved the problem of patents. After the analysis, it often turns into an arithmetic problem, which is to compare who has more core patents in related fields. Eventually, through mutual authorization, both parties took a step back. Apple, which entered the field of mobile communications relatively late, is certainly unwilling to do so. As the top technology company in the market, how could Apple be willing to be led by Qualcomm? Therefore, Apple has been reducing its dependence on Qualcomm. In 2019, Apple acquired Intel's 5G baseband industry and began to develop its own road.
Apple’s move will have a huge impact on the global mobile phone chip landscape. The patents that Qualcomm has worked hard for many years and the dual protection of chips are also being strongly challenged by industry giants.