In the statement made during the Qualcomm earnings call, it was revealed that Apple has extended its 5G modem patent license agreement until March 2027. Apple and Qualcomm will remain in a tense relationship for a while. In-house development of an Apple-made modem continues to have problems, leading Apple to expand its agreement with Qualcomm.
Qualcomm talks about Apple’s licensing agreement
According to Ben Bajarin’s post about X, Qualcomm mentioned Apple’s licensing deal during its earnings call. Apple has extended its global patent licensing agreement for another two years. Previous reports suggested that Apple had contracts for Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems until 2026. The new extension extends this contract until March 2027.
Apple bought Intel’s modem patents for $1 billion in 2019 to begin in-house modem development. Since then, reports of problems with Apple’s modem have been popping up regularly, suggesting Apple is at least three years behind Qualcomm. Apple’s iPhone 15 series uses Qualcomm’s 5G modem. With this latest deal, it looks like Apple won’t have an in-house modem ready until the iPhone 19.