Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Apple has secured a 5G modem chip made by the United States (US) manufacturer Qualcomm until 2026. This was announced by Qualcomm earlier this week.
In fact, previously Wall Street and Qualcomm analysts said that Apple would develop its own (in-house) 5G modem chip starting in 2024.
The latest deal between Apple and Qualcomm will help the chip giant’s business. About 21% of Qualcomm’s $44.2 billion in 2022 revenue came from Apple, according to estimates by firm UBS.
So far, Qualcomm is still continuing to supply 5G modems for the iPhone line. However, Apple is trying to build its own modem to get rid of dependence on Qualcomm.
Analysts predict that Apple’s ambition to be independent from Qualcomm will face a steep road. The reason is, Qualcomm chips are very complex to make yourself.
Apart from chip sales, Qualcomm also makes money from cellular licensing fees for Apple devices. It will be worth around US$ 1.9 billion in 2022, according to UBS estimates.
Qualcomm still continues to collect royalties from Apple through a 6 year agreement. Although, in 2019 there was a royalty dispute between Apple and Qualcomm which has now been resolved.
Qualcomm said it would supply 20% of the 5G modems needed for iPhones at launch in 2026. This suggests that Apple’s business will continue to be sluggish.
Apple will launch the newest iPhone 15 today, September 12 2023 at 10.00 local time in the US or September 13 2023 at 00.00 WIB in the morning. This latest cellphone also uses a modem from Qualcomm.
This security step from Apple follows information about the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro which supports 5G networks. In fact, US authorities have imposed sanctions that prohibit the export of advanced 5G technology from the US for use by Huawei.
The Huawei chip itself was developed by the Chinese semiconductor giant, SMIC. However, the US government suspects there has been a violation of trade sanctions, so SMIC can still access US chip technology to help produce Huawei 5G cellphones.
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