In September last year, Apple and Qualcomm agreed to continue their agreement to use the latter’s 5G modems till 2026. Apple is currently developing its modems while undergoing constant ups and downs with the same. At the recent earnings call at Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm CEO) announced Apple has extended its agreement to use Qualcomm modems until March 2027.
Cristiano Amon announced Qualcomm’s first fiscal quarter 2024 report on Wednesday where he revealed $2.77 billion in net income and $9.92 billion in revenues. During the call, Amon added that the Qualcomm QLT business has extended an agreement from Apple where the latter will use Qualcomm’s 5G modems until March 2027 at the least instead of March 2026.
He expressed his gratitude and said he’s “happy with the relationship with Apple” while Apple remained unavailable for comments. After entering a fierce dispute a few years ago over the use of 5G patents and technologies, both Apple and Qualcomm entered an agreement that would allow iPhones to use 5G patents reserved by Qualcomm. In September last year, this agreement was further extended by two years until 2026. With the latest earnings call in place, the agreement has reached a deadline of March 2027.
It is safe to assume that Apple might need to extend it further given the current ups and downs that its modem development biz is going through. Certain reports claim the Cupertino-based giant has scrapped the plan to develop its modems and use Qualcomm’s instead, however, we do keep hearing about its working in the pipeline which means we could see something in a couple of years. As per the last update, Apple’s modems were at least 3 years away in terms of performance and efficiency which means the tech giant has a lot of work to do.
On the flip side, Qualcomm knows if Apple starts manufacturing its modems, the chipmaker giant will face a significant setback and thus, take measures to counter a major blow.
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