Apple’s settlement with Qualcomm takes some of the mystery out of when iPhones will hop onto the new 5G networks, and takes a lot of air out of the Android world’s competitive sails.
Apple settled ongoing lawsuits with Qualcomm today and announced a «multiyear chipset supply agreement,» which sets the date for a 5G-powered iPhone in September 2020 at the latest.
The No. 1 smartphone maker in the US and the top cellular chipset maker in the world have been at loggerheads for about two years now over the royalties Qualcomm wanted Apple to pay for using its chips and patents. While Apple had at least in part used Qualcomm modems for several years, this year it cut the company off and switched entirely to Intel.
Before Apple and Qualcomm came to terms, the future of when the iPhone would jump on next-generation networks was quite cloudy. Apple had been heavily leaning on Intel, which has insisted it will have a 5G modem available in 2020, but various analysts doubted Intel’s ability to fulfill its commitments.
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There are several other 5G vendors out there, but none are appropriate for Apple. Samsung certainly wouldn’t sell it modems. Huawei denied it would do so. MediaTek won’t have them ready soon enough. So if Apple wanted a quality 5G modem, in huge quantities, delivered on time in 2020, it looked like it would have had to turn to Qualcomm.
