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Apple Is Designing iPhones, iPads That Would Drop Qualcomm Components (wsj.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source): Apple, locked in an intensifying legal fight with Qualcomm, is designing iPhones and iPads for next year that would jettison the chipmaker's components, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple is considering building the devices only with modem chips from Intel and possibly MediaTek because San Diego, Calif.-based Qualcomm has withheld software critical to testing its chips in iPhone and iPad prototypes, according to one of the people. Apple's planned move for next year involve the modem chips that handle communications between wireless devices and cellular networks. Qualcomm is by far the biggest supplier of such chips for the current wireless standard. The Apple plans indicate the battle with Qualcomm could spill beyond the courtroom feud over patents into another important Qualcomm business where it has the potential to send ripples through the smartphone supply chain.
There is a reason Qualcomm is in the position they are - they did a lot of R&D and pushed cellular forward. On the other hand Apple has done what, "invent" round corners?
It's not like they design their own CPUs or anything. That'd be crazytalk!
So Apple designs almost every component in an iPhone except for the radio. Qualcomm thinks they're entitled to a percent of the whole device price because... well, I don't know. Because they're special or something. Is their magic radio really more valuable to an iPhone than to a cheap Android? Of course not. But they continue to want to charge Apple several times more for the exact same price just because they (think they) can. I can't imagine a plausible scenario in which Apple wouldn't design Qualcomm out of their supply line. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they turned around and offered to license their non-Qualcomm radio at cost to anyone else who wants to use it.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Which is exactly what Apple is trying not to do. They are trying to use their size to squeeze their suppliers and the people who contributed to the R&D behind all the current technology.
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On the other hand Apple has done what, "invent" round corners?
The iPhone basically defined and popularized what we consider the modern smartphone. The iPad did the same for tablets. They defined and popularized the graphical user interface on desktop PCs as well as quite a few other technologies. Any claim that Apple hasn't invented anything or done any R&D that has improved the industry is simply willful ignorance or foolish spite.
Scoff if you want but someone has to turn those technologies that companies like Qualcomm develop into products that people actually buy. It's hard to argue anybody does a better job of that than Apple. There is a tremendous amount of invention in creating functional integrated products. Not bashing Qualcomm but without Apple they don't have nearly as big a market to sell into. Qualcomm and Apple have different strengths and are sell to different customers bases. Qualcomm sells to other companies and develops technology they can use to make products. Apple sells to individuals and integrates and adapts technology into a coherent product.