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Industry experts explained why Apple had to sign a multi-year purchase agreement with Qualcomm after its hopes for Intel ultimately failed: it will take years to design, develop and test an Apple 5G chip.
Indeed, they say, a modem is one of the most complex chips of a smartphone …
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"Modems are the sport of kings," said Gus Richard, chip analyst at Northland Capital Markets. "Qualcomm is probably the only company on the planet to be able to install a 5G modem in an Apple phone by next year" […]
Modems require more layers of engineering than some other types of processors. The modem connects phones to cellular networks and allows devices to surf the web, download applications and make phone calls. Making it work smoothly around the world is a complex task that requires vast industrial expertise that is difficult to acquire. Apple started the internal work on modems about a year ago, and the part usually takes at least two years to build and a year and a half to test.
The problem lies in all the different things that a radio chip has to do. It manages Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mobile data. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communications must be compatible with a range of standards from the earliest to the most recent, and things are even more complex when it comes to mobile data. There, you need compatibility with every generation of technology, but also with all the standards in force in the world.
China Mobile Ltd.'s wireless network operators AT & T Inc., Orange SA, build networks in different ways, using a variety of equipment and different radio frequencies. Modems must integrate with this diverse technology, while seamlessly returning to older wireless systems.
In order for a phone to be marketed worldwide, it must be qualified to operate on many local networks, a process that requires rigorous field testing by expert engineers. […]
"Getting qualified modems around the world is extremely difficult," Richard said. "Companies gain a lot of tribal knowledge through 2G, 3G or 4G. You probably will not have the experience to succeed without having this story.
Qualcomm has this experience. It also has very sophisticated test labs that can be configured to emulate the radio environment of any country in the world. If the iPhone maker has to create an Apple 5G chip, he has to develop this type of facilities and design the chip.
An analyst believes that Apple is at least five years behind Qualcomm at this stage.
We believe that Qualcomm's leadership in the 5G business has enabled Qualcomm to be the sole carrier of modems for Apple's 5G range over the next five years or more.
We do not know the duration of the multi-year purchase agreement, but we know that Apple has licensed Qualcomm's patents for at least six years, with the possibility of extending it to eight years. It is at least possible to continue to license Qualcomm IP even though it has its own chips.
We learned for the first time that Apple was planning to develop its own radio chip last November. This report was backed by job offers, with the company subsequently becoming a much more publicized project.
Apple would have about 200 engineers currently working on its modem project, and plans to hire hundreds of others. But, if the experts are right, it is unlikely that we would see an iPhone with an Apple 5G chip inside before 2024 at the earliest.
Photo: Shutterstock
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