Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Thursday April 18 2019, @01:20PM   Printer-friendly

Intel Quits 5G Modem Business Hours after Apple Settles with Qualcomm:

Intel says it is canceling a line of smartphone 5G chips that had been slated for 2020 launches. The announcement comes on the same day Apple announced a wide-ranging settlement with Qualcomm over patent issues.

Qualcomm has long been a dominant player in the wireless chip business for smartphones. Apple worries about becoming too dependent on a single supplier. So in recent years, Apple has encouraged Intel to expand its wireless chip offerings and offered Intel a significant share of its business for 4G chips in the iPhone.

Then last year, as Apple's legal battle with Qualcomm heated up, Intel became Apple's sole supplier for 4G wireless chips in the iPhone. Intel additionally was working to develop 5G chips for Apple to use in future versions of the iPhone. But recent reports have indicated that Intel was "missing deadlines" for the wireless chip that was slated to go into the 2020 model of the iPhone.

[...] If Intel had failed to provide Apple with 5G chips in a timely manner, that would have put Apple in an untenable position. The iPhone's competitors would be able to offer 5G capabilities using Qualcomm chips, while Qualcomm could have denied Apple access to 5G chips as long as the patent battle continued.

[...] Still, it's not clear whether Apple's settlement with Qualcomm forced Intel to leave the 5G market or whether Intel's impending exit from the 5G market forced Apple to settle with Qualcomm. It's likely that the causation ran a bit in both directions.

There are other handset makers as well as other kinds of devices that would use 5G so I would be surprised if Intel gave up entirely on the market.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Intel Selling Off Smartphone Modem Assets 6 comments

Thanks, Apple: Intel will auction off smartphone modem patents, exit industry

Back in April, Apple announced that it would cease all litigation against chip manufacturer Qualcomm and enter a new partnership with the company that will see Qualcomm modems installed in new crops of iPhones.

On that same day, Intel announced it was exiting the smartphone modem business entirely. Now, according to IAM, Intel is going one step further and auctioning off many of its smartphone modem assets.

This information appears to suggest that without Apple as a partner, Intel has no need for its patents surrounding smartphone modems at all.

According to IAM, the Intel auction will see some 8,500 patents up for sale to the highest bidder.

Also at Tom's Hardware and Wccftech.

Previously: Apple Could Switch From Qualcomm to Intel and MediaTek for Modems
Intel Speeds Up Rollout of 5G Modems
A Billion-Dollar Question: What Was Really Behind Qualcomm's Surprise Ten-Digit Gift to Apple?
Apple's Internal Hardware Team is Working on Modems Now
Intel and Qualcomm Announce 5G Modem Modules for M.2 Slots
Intel Quits 5G Modem Business Hours after Apple Settles with Qualcomm
Qualcomm Will Pocket Almost $5 Billion from Apple Settlement this Quarter
How Qualcomm Shook Down the Cell Phone Industry for Almost 20 Years


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @02:02PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @02:02PM (#831638)

    Simple, Intel does not give a damn about stupid toys used by teenage girls.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @02:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @02:27PM (#831654)

      Simple, Intel does not give a damn about...teenage girls.

      Good. More for me! ;)

    • (Score: 2, Disagree) by takyon on Thursday April 18 2019, @02:29PM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday April 18 2019, @02:29PM (#831655) Journal

      Let's rephrase that.

      Intel can only make money selling overpriced crap.

      That's better.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @09:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @09:08PM (#831877)

      Intel left this market because they have so many Indian workers there now, that they lack the human capital needed to actually make the chips work.

  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @09:38PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18 2019, @09:38PM (#831890)

    Intel can deploy all those engineers to develop an even larger IME. I foresee a 64 bit IME in our future running systemd as its OS, with mandatory Facebook logon to complete the bootup process.

(1)