As Apple continues to make strikes to interrupt away from long-time modem provider Qualcomm, the San Diego-based chipmaker’s CEO says he’s already trying past the Apple partnership as he tries to look assured in entrance of traders, reassuring them that the lack of Apple as a buyer gained’t hurt his firm’s future.
As first reported by 9to5Mac, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon appeared on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid podcast, the place he downplayed the implications of the upcoming breakup of his firm’s years-long relationship with Apple. Amon says Qualcomm is already planning on the way to transfer ahead as soon as Apple begins solely utilizing its personal in-house modems in its gadgets someday within the subsequent few years.
“That’s our contract, you realize, and if we don’t get a brand new contract, that’s what it’s,” Amon mentioned. “And there’s a lot drama and affiliation in regards to the Apple relationship, which I believe shouldn’t be warranted, to be trustworthy.”
Qualcomm has lengthy been Apple’s major modem provider, and it’s estimated that the deal is value income between $5.7 and $5.9 billion yearly to the modem maker.
The present modem licensing settlement between the 2 firms runs by way of 2027, and Apple has already begun making strikes to make sure it has its personal modems prepared for when the contract ends. Apple presently makes use of Qualcomm modems within the lion’s share of its iPhone lineup, aside from the iPhone 16e, which makes use of the C1 chip — a brand new 5G modem developed in-house by Apple.
Qualcomm expects its modems for use in about 70% of Apple’s iPhones this fall, dropping precipitously to twenty% subsequent 12 months after which in not one of the 2027 iPhone lineup.
“We’re planning our enterprise assuming that they will use their very own modem,” Amon mentioned. “And what’s thrilling in regards to the firm is all of this progress that we’re creating… together with on Android.”
Qualcomm doesn’t rely solely on smartphones for its enterprise, and it’s betting huge on automotive, IoT, and extra. The corporate just lately introduced a push into AI-powered server chips because it strikes to place itself as a complementary different to Nvidia’s presently dominant GPUs.
Whereas Qualcomm gained’t have a straightforward time within the AI server chips area — a number of different firms are eyeing the AI server area, together with ARM, Intel, and AMD — Amon believes the market is sufficiently big to assist a number of rivals.
“It’s a large TAM and can proceed to develop at very excessive progress charges for many years,” he mentioned. “If we will construct one thing distinctive and disruptive, there’s room for Qualcomm.”
Apple’s first customized modem chip, the C1, debuted within the iPhone 16e. Apple has touted the C1 as its most power-efficient mobile chip thus far. Nevertheless, the C1 modem’s characteristic set lacks assist for ultra-fast mmWave 5G know-how. This implies iPhone 16e customers can’t entry the super-fast connection speeds that mmWave know-how can present in city areas, together with crowded airports, stadiums, and arenas.
mmWave 5G frequencies promise super-fast connection speeds over quick distances, making it perfect for dense city areas. Whereas sub-6GHz 5G, which is supported by Apple’s C1 modem, affords slower connections than mmWave, its alerts journey an extended distance, making it extra enticing for suburban and rural areas.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has mentioned Apple is engaged on a second era of its 5G modem, which is able to embrace mmWave assist in its characteristic set. Gurman expects the second-generation chip to debut within the 2026 iPhone 18 lineup. He expects a third-generation chip to debut in iPhones in 2027.