This worries me. Wouldn't this leave us with Qualcomm once again the only manafacturer of cellular modems for everyone else? I somehow doubt Apple would keep supplying the Intel parts to any other OEMs.
> Wouldn't this leave us with Qualcomm once again the only manafacturer of cellular modems for everyone else? I somehow doubt Apple would keep supplying the Intel parts to any other OEMs.
This could go either way.
Apple is clearly doing this because they want to give Qualcomm the finger. But if they really want to do that then they do sell parts to any other OEM.
Most of the devices these radios go in don't actually compete with Apple products. The largest volume is in low end phones and things with radios that aren't even phones, like base stations and smart meters. Apple could sell the chips for commodity prices and make a bit of profit for itself while still undercutting Qualcomm and making them hurt bad in the volume segment of the market where Apple doesn't otherwise compete but where Qualcomm makes a lot of its money.
>Apple could sell the chips for commodity prices and make a bit of profit for itself
Never gonna happen. You can't just sell the chips, you also need to provide a TON of support to your customers and integrators and in the semiconductor business that's way too much of a hassle for Apple to be worth it. They have much bigger fish to fry.
From what I hear about Qualcomm, theres enough companies that would be willing to jump through the hoops to avoid them, as Apple themselves did Intel.
They could always set up a joint venture, Apple brings the IP. The partner does the day to day stuff. It doesn't make a lot of sense to be sitting on top of IP and R&D that could be amortised over a much larger number of units.
Apple seems like they could be vindictive enough to get into the business of selling their own modems, and to do so at prices that undercut Qualcomm, despite low cost hardware being way outside of their normal business model. Overall, I'd support that.
Nobody except Apple bought the Intel parts anyway (possibly because they were absolute flaming garbage relative to Qualcomm’s products), which is why we’re in this position in the first place.
I have an iPhone with an Intel modem and can confirm: it is flaming garbage. It's fine in good service areas but in the event of subpar service it basically just craps out entirely. Qualcomm modems seem to handle the same areas just fine.
IIRC that deal was Ericsson fabbing their LTE & 5G basestations on Intel's 10nm process, but Intel's 10nm process can't produce large working chips in volume (and likely never will), which has kneecapped Ericsson as a cellular vendor.
In mergers/acquisitions like this, what used to happen is that the FTC/etc would require that they continue to sell or support all comers for some period of time.
For example, when Google bought ITA, ITA was required to continue licensing the software on "commercially reasonable terms" to other people.
>Wouldn't this leave us with Qualcomm once again the only manafacturer of cellular modems for everyone else?
Does it matter?
1. Intel aren't selling their modem to anyone else anyway.
2. MediaTek Still supplies Discrete Modem.
3. Apple, Huawei, Samsung are already 50%+ of the market.
With Xiaomi, BBK ( Vivo OnePlus Oppo ) going to have their own / shared Modem solution in a few years time. Which combined to ~20% market. There isn't that much of a market left for players other than Qualcomm and Mediatek.
Everyone already has to pay a % of the end device whether or not they use Qualcomm parts, regardless of the cost of the device. Because Qualcomm is only interested in “standards” where they are the only provider so get to cut anyone who doesn’t accept their novel interpretation of FRAND
Wouldn't this then be a reason for a regulator to block a deal like this? Would Apple have to 'promise' to at least try and sell chips to other OEMs in order to avoid leaving others in a monopoly situation with Qualcomm?
I honestly don't know what's better: screwing everyone altogether + Intel job losses, or screwing everyone except another already big fish?
A better alternative would be for another interested buyer to appear at the negotiating table, presumably that would require the price to somehow magically come down.
Edit: @DannyBee above has already helpfully commented that the FTC has previously required that the buyer continues to sell to / support customers for some time period following the purchase.
As others pointed out, there are other modem manufactures. The interesting bit is whether or not Apple would allow other manufacturers to buy their modems.
I don't think it makes a ton of sense for Apple to resell their A-series CPUs, but 4G modems is a little different, they're more generic. If they manage to make good modems why wouldn't they sell them to others? The people buying iPhones won't switch to an Android device, just because it's the same modem.
If apple buys the modem division, they'll be integrating the modem into the SoC. It will be an advanced process node and they won't be scared of using more silicon area to get more performance. By being on the same SoC, they might combine the application and baseband CPU's into one too using something like trustzone.
Cheapo android handset makers wouldn't be able to afford the resulting silicon - it'll be too expensive due to the large area. It'll also likely diverge from the way everyone else builds modems - no more AT commands!
