Qualcomm
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Qualcomm Articles

Qualcomm Expecting to Supply Just 20% of 2023 iPhone Modems As Apple Prepares to Launch Its Own Chips
Qualcomm is preparing for the launch of Apple's own modem chips, which will cut into Qualcomm's modem business starting in 2023. At today's Investor Day event, Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala said that Qualcomm expects to supply just 20 percent of Apple's modem chips in 2023. If that's an accurate estimate, it means that 2022 will be the last year that Qualcomm enjoys a modem monopoly in iPhone...
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Qualcomm Looking to Combat Apple Silicon With New Generation of PC Chips
Qualcomm today announced plans for next-generation Arm-based System on Chips (SoC) designed to rival Apple's M-series chips in the PC space (via The Verge). At Qualcomm's 2021 investor day event, chief technology officer Dr. James Thompson announced the plans for the new generation of chips. The chips are "designed to set the performance benchmark for Windows PCs" and are being developed by...

Intel Plans to Make Chips for Qualcomm in the Future
Intel today announced that it is teaming up with Qualcomm to manufacture some of Qualcomm's future chips. The chips will be manufactured using Intel's 20A process, which is expected to ramp in 2024. There is no word on which chips Intel will make for Qualcomm, but Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips are used in most Android smartphones. Though the 20A design is expected to be available starting in...

Qualcomm CEO Outlines Plans to Compete With Apple Silicon, Handle Apple's Shift to In-House Modems
Qualcomm Chief Executive Cristiano Amon believes that Qualcomm will provide laptop chips that can compete with Apple silicon by next year and has explained how the company views Apple's expected transition to its own custom modems. Speaking to Reuters, Amon said that Qualcomm is capable of having the best chip on the market, thanks to a team of chip architects who previously worked for Apple ...

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 Modem Upgraded With Wider mmWave Coverage Ahead of Inclusion in 2022 iPhones
Qualcomm today announced it has upgraded its Snapdragon X65 5G modem with improved power efficiency and support for wider mmWave carriers, a key requirement ahead of the rollout of 5G mmWave networks in China. Specifically, the modem now supports wider 200MHz carrier bandwidth in the mmWave spectrum and mmWave in standalone (SA) mode, while new power-saving technologies part of Qualcomm 5G...

FTC Abandons Antitrust Lawsuit Against Qualcomm
The United States Federal Trade Commission is abandoning its antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm, reports Bloomberg. The FTC will not seek a Supreme Court review of a 2020 federal appeals court decision that determined that Qualcomm's licensing practices are fair and not anticompetitive. In a statement, FTC chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said that the FTC's conclusion that Qualcomm...

Qualcomm Struggling to Keep Up With Processor Demand and Shortages Could Impact Samsung
Qualcomm is having a hard time keeping up with demand for the processor chips that Android manufacturers rely on, reports Reuters. Chip shortages have been impacting multiple industries, and have now hit the electronics business. There's no indication that Qualcomm's supply troubles will impact Apple, but smartphone manufacturers like Samsung could be in trouble. Apple develops its own...

UK Consumer Watchdog Sues Qualcomm for Allegedly Breaching Competition Law
Around 29 million Britons who own an Apple or Samsung phone could be entitled to a collective £480m payout if a landmark legal claim against U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm is successful. Consumer watchdog Which? is suing the chipmaker for allegedly breaching U.K. competition law by taking advantage of its dominance in the patent licensing and chip markets. As reported by the BBC, Which? alleges ...

iPhone 13 Lineup Expected to Use Qualcomm's Snapdragon X60 Modem With Several 5G Improvements
Apple's next-generation iPhone 13 lineup will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon X60 5G modem, with Samsung to handle manufacturing of the chip, according to DigiTimes. Built on a 5nm process, the X60 packs higher power efficiency into a smaller footprint compared to the 7nm-based Snapdragon X55 modem used in iPhone 12 models, which could contribute to longer battery life. With the X60 modem, iPhone...

Qualcomm Opposes Nvidia's Acquisition of Arm as Deal Comes Under Increasing Scrutiny
U.S. chipmaker and Apple supplier Qualcomm has told regulators around the world that it opposes Nvidia's $40 billion proposed acquisition of Arm, according to CNBC. Qualcomm has registered an objection to Nvidia's acquisition of Arm with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the European Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority, and China's State Administration for Market...

Intel and AMD Ask for Government Incentives While Apple Supplier TSMC Expands to Meet Unprecedented Demand
A group of U.S. chip companies, including Intel, Qualcomm, Micron, and AMD, have today sent a letter to President Joe Biden to request "funding for incentives," while Apple supplier TSMC is undertaking a considerable expansion as chip demand outstrips supply (via Reuters). The letter to the President asked for "substantial funding for incentives for semiconductor manufacturing" to be...

Qualcomm Debuts World's First 10 Gigabit 5G Modem, Destined for 2022 iPhones
Qualcomm today introduced the Snapdragon X65, the world's first 10 Gigabit 5G modem and antenna system for smartphones, enabling theoretical data speeds up to 10 gigabits per second. Apple will likely use the Snapdragon X65 in 2022 iPhones. While real-world download speeds will likely remain far below the peak of 10 gigabits per second, devices equipped with the Snapdragon X65 should see...

Qualcomm to Acquire Chip Startup Nuvia, Founded by Ex-Apple Chip Designers, for $1.4 Billion
Qualcomm has reached an agreement to acquire Nuvia, a chip startup company founded by former Apple chip designers, for $1.4 billion, in an effort to compete with Apple and Intel (via Reuters). Nuvia was founded by three former Apple chip designers that worked on the A-series chips for the iPhone. Among Nuvia's key projects is a custom CPU core design set to be used in servers, but Qualcomm ...

Apple's A14 Outperforms New Snapdragon 888 Chip Coming in Future Android Phones
Qualcomm today shared benchmark results for the Snapdragon 888 SoC that will be used in flagship Android phones coming out in 2021, and it's not able to keep pace with the A14 chip in the iPhone 12 models, nor the A13 in the iPhone 11. AnandTech compared Qualcomm's benchmarks to benchmarks of Apple's devices, with the iPhone winning out in Geekbench 5 and GFXBench tests. The...

iPhone 12 Demand Helps Boost Qualcomm's 5G Modem Revenue, But Apple Working on Own 'High-End' Modem
The popularity of iPhone 12 models has led to soaring demand for Qualcomm's 5G modems and RF chips, helping to propel the chipmaker's revenues past that of rival Broadcom in the third quarter of 2020, according to Taiwanese research firm TrendForce. Qualcomm reported $4.9 billion revenue in the third quarter, a 37.6% increase over the year-ago quarter, compared to $4.6 billion for Broadcom....

Apple Developing In-House Modem That Will Eventually Replace Qualcomm Chips
Apple is now developing its own cellular modem that will be used in future devices and that will eventually replace modem components sourced from Qualcomm, reports Bloomberg. The information was shared by Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji at a town hall meeting with Apple employees."This year, we kicked off the development of our first internal cellular...

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...

Apple's Roadmap for Using Qualcomm's 5G Modems in Future Products Revealed, Including X60 in 2021
In April 2019, Apple and Qualcomm announced an agreement to dismiss a long-running legal battle between the two companies worldwide, paving the way for Apple to use Qualcomm's 5G modems for its iPhone 12 lineup and beyond. Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X60 modem is built on a 5nm process A teardown video shared earlier today revealed that Apple is using Qualcomm's Snapdragon X55 modem in...

Qualcomm Wins Appeal in FTC Antitrust Lawsuit
Qualcomm today scored a major victory in its ongoing antitrust battle with the FTC, winning an appeal that will prevent the San Diego company from having to renegotiate its licensing agreements with smartphone makers. Back in May 2019, the Federal Trade Commission won an antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm, with the court ruling that Qualcomm's "no license, no chips" model that allowed...

Qualcomm's New 'Quick Charge 5' Will Charge Android Smartphones to 50% in Five Minutes
Qualcomm today unveiled its latest fast charging standard, Quick Charge 5, which it says can charge a smartphone from 0 to 50 percent in five minutes, or to full in 15 minutes. According to Qualcomm, Quick Charge 5 is the world's fastest commercial charging solution, supporting more than 100W of charging power for smartphones. In addition to offering much faster charging, Quick Charge 5...