Qualcomm Sees Strong Q4 Earnings Thanks to 5G iPhone 12
Qualcomm earned $8.3 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the company's earnings report that was shared today. That's up 73 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019, with Qualcomm's strong performance due in part to the 5G chips used in the iPhone 12 and other smartphones on the market.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that some of the Q4 earnings report reflected iPhone sales, but earnings will be more substantial in the next quarter. "Our investments in 5G are coming to fruition and showing benefits in our licensing and product businesses," said Mollenkopf.
Qualcomm also received a one-time payment of $1.8 billion from Huawei, but even without that revenue, Qualcomm's sales were up 35 percent year over year.
Apple and Qualcomm last year settled a vicious legal battle over licensing fees after it became clear Apple would not be able to rely on Intel chips for its 5G iPhones. Apple and Qualcomm signed a multi-year licensing deal and all of the iPhone 12 models are equipped with Qualcomm's 5G modems.
Going forward, Apple plans to use Qualcomm chips for years to come. A recent Apple roadmap suggested the company plans to rely on Qualcomm's X60, X65, and X70 chips through at least 2023. Apple is, however, developing its own modem chips in house and at some point, may shift to its own technology.
Apple in 2019 purchased the majority of Intel's smartphone modem business for $1 billion, giving Apple new wireless technology patents and engineers with expertise in modem development. Intel's former chip team has joined Apple's cellular technologies group, and at the time, Apple chip chief Johny Srouji said that the purchase would allow Apple to expedite development on future products.
Popular Stories
Game emulator apps have come and gone since Apple announced App Store support for them on April 5, but now popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download. Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of...
Last September, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models debuted with a new customizable Action button, offering faster access to a handful of functions, as well as the ability to assign Shortcuts. Apple is poised to include the feature on all upcoming iPhone 16 models, so we asked iPhone 15 Pro users what their experience has been with the additional button so far. The Action button replaces the switch ...
A decade ago, developer Riley Testut released the GBA4iOS emulator for iOS, and since it was against the rules at the time, Apple put a stop to downloads. Emulators have been a violation of the App Store rules for years, but that changed on April 5 when Apple suddenly reversed course and said that it was allowing retro game emulators on the App Store. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
The lead developer of the multi-emulator app Provenance has told iMore that his team is working towards releasing the app on the App Store, but he did not provide a timeframe. Provenance is a frontend for many existing emulators, and it would allow iPhone and Apple TV users to emulate games released for a wide variety of classic game consoles, including the original PlayStation, GameCube, Wii,...
The first approved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone and iPad was made available on the App Store today following Apple's rule change. The emulator is called Bimmy, and it was developed by Tom Salvo. On the App Store, Bimmy is described as a tool for testing and playing public domain/"homebrew" games created for the NES, but the app allows you to load ROMs for any...
Top Rated Comments
can't wait until Apple comes out with their own modem.
In order for Apple to develop their own modem as being good for the consumers, Apple must be better than the best.
Otherwise it's another Intel fiasco again and nobody wins except Apple shareholders who will save a few dollars.
Or, hear me out, Qualcomm developed the best modem technology, patented it, and then Apple refused to play ball with Qualcomm.
Qualcomm has such a deep well of R&D experience in advanced communications systems, algorithm development, techniques, and novel designs going back to its co-founder Dr. Andrew Viterbi and others in the 1980s. Most communications systems engineers would tip their hats to Viterbi's and Qualcomm's accomplishments.
Apple is lucky to be able to draw on that advanced technology embodied in Qualcomm's modem chips. I just don't see Apple engineers staying ahead of the curve on current and future state of the art communications systems techniques and technologies as aggressively as Qualcomm. It's a lot more than just chip design.
I mean, the whole thing is publicly documented, not the crap and rumours from news outlet, but the actual court case and legal documents. You can go and read it up and make up your own mind.
And the same as to IMG ( PowerVR ).
It is funny that MR Apple's Fans think Apple absolutely deserve the 30% from the App Store, and even more so if Apple like, while Apple should not pay a cent to Qualcomm invention, innovation and patents.