Apple in Advanced Talks to Buy Intel’s Smartphone-Modem Chip Business

Post by telcodud » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 3:45 PM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #80

pbalau wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reason this is not a feature is that it would add a lot of cost related to patents and IP licensing. Looking at the numbers here(1), this is not right. They sold ~46 millions iPhones, ~9 millions iPads for a rounded total of ~50 millions devices with a GSM modem. Meanwhile, they "only" sold ~5 millions Macs, which include all the laptops and desktop offerings. Therefore, adding a GSM device to all their mobile…

You realize that qualcomm's ridiculous licensing terms entitles them to a percentage of the sales price of the end device, right? At $2-3k per laptop that's not exactly chump change and would likely lead to a noticeable price increase on a laptop that's already considered "overpriced" by the general public.

Post by telcodud » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 3:46 PM UTC

zimbatm wrote: post #77

jillesvangurp wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you under-appreciate how stupendously expensive it is to settle patent disputes. There's no question that 4G would have been useful in laptops and given that Apple sells them at a premium, even small increases in market share are very lucrative. The reason they didn't was cost and mitigating risks infringing on relevant patents. For a phone this is essential and not optional, for a laptop this isn't the case.

If I remember correctly the price of the Qualcom "essentials" patents is based on the price of the whole device. So in that regard it would make sense to avoid laptops since there are smaller margins and the price tag is also higher.

Post by incognition » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:02 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #99

pentae wrote: post #78

The irony that Apple really hate paying that royalty but expect App developers to do the exact same. Here's a fun anecdotal story. Me and my partner both have iPhone 7+ devices and the same carrier. I get 2 bars of 4G signal and she gets none inside our apartment. She has to walk outside to take calls. I couldn't understand how this was possible but after some research I discovered that my iPhone has a Qualcomm modem…

> it sure seems crazy that they're also getting the worst modem in the world packaged inside it so Apple can save a few dollars on the cost of the unit. A few dollars? Qualcomm skins you for all you are worth. Yeah, the actual chip is few bucks more, but the support framework for that chip is mega $$$. Want to debug the modem? Looks like you need Qualcomm's proprietary debug tool QXDM! That'll be $25K per year per se…

Post by dano » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:14 PM UTC

Post by drbojingle » Tue, Jul 23, 2019, 4:25 PM UTC

ninkendo wrote: post #108

pbalau wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the phone would be a wifi hotspot, sharing it's 4g connection with the laptop, via wifi.

Or if you don't have much battery, you can kill two birds with one stone by plugging the phone into the laptop and tethering over USB while charging it.