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Expert: Apple's self-developed baseband chip will not be held back by patents, but Qualcomm license is needed anyway.

2025-02-27 Update From: SLTechnology News&Howtos shulou NAV: SLTechnology News&Howtos > IT Information >

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The issue of Apple's baseband chip once caused a heated discussion in the outside world. Recently, Prakash Sangam, the founder of Tantra Analyst, posted his views on this.

He believes that some analysts and news media who believe in Apple's capabilities are starting to make excuses to guess that the reason is not Apple's incompetence, but Qualcomm's vague patents.

Does he think the delay in Apple modems is due to Qualcomm's patent? The answer is simple: no!

He pointed out that when Guo Mingyi claimed on Twitter that Apple's internal modem efforts had not been successful (the 2023 iPhone), people reacted differently. Many people are shocked, some are in disbelief, and some are scratching their heads to figure out what went wrong, which Prakash Sangam believes is incorrect for anyone who knows about patents and licenses.

Does the baseband provider (modem vendors) require an IP license from Qualcomm? The answer is simple: no.

For example, MediaTek, Qualcomm's direct competitor, does not need or does not have Qualcomm's authorization. Intel's baseband business no longer exists, and it does not need or does not have a license from Qualcomm. Similarly, Apple does not need a license from Qualcomm to make or sell its baseband products.

The reason is that Qualcomm granted its patent to OEM. Before legally selling its devices, any 3G, 4G or 5G original equipment manufacturer must be licensed by Qualcomm (and a few other IP holders such as Ericsson and Nokia). The question of whether the holder of IP has the right to enforce its authorization against OEM has been strongly sued in the federal court of the United States and resolved decisively.

He believes that, basically, patents can be divided into two categories-standard essential patents (SEP) and non-standard essential patents. As the name implies, the standard necessary patent is necessary for any equipment that meets the standard. For example, if many OEM are manufacturing 3G, 4G, or 5G devices, they need to implement the technologies defined in the standard necessary patents, so they need to be licensed to use these technologies. Similarly, a non-standard essential patent is not necessary, but it is desirable to achieve higher performance or differentiation than the minimum performance in the standard.

Qualcomm provides proprietary standard essential patent license or standard essential patent + non-standard essential patent license at different price points. The licensing fee is only a fraction of the average selling price (ASP) of the device and has a preset ceiling. As a mobile device OEM, Apple already has at least the standard necessary patent license.

The authors believe that Apple and Qualcomm resolved many of their legal disputes by signing licensing and baseband supply contracts in 2019.

With regard to the so-called delay in Apple's baseband research and development, the media further speculated that the reason may be due to several non-standard essential patents. Due to the confidential nature of the licensing agreement, there is no public information indicating whether Apple has obtained standard essential patents and non-standard essential patent licenses from Qualcomm. Even if there are proprietary standard necessary patents, this cannot be the cause of the delay, because these non-standard essential patents are not necessary for the basic functions of the device.

If Apple's performance is higher than standard performance, they can develop technologies that do not need these patents, or obtain non-standard necessary patent licenses from Qualcomm. After all, innovation must be rewarded. This is the basic principle of the intellectual property system.

"some people might say that obtaining this new license may be the reason for the delay in the baseband chip," Prakash Sangam said. "first of all, it's all speculation, and second, such a requirement is not new or unheard of. If Apple didn't anticipate this, it's their responsibility. But to be honest, I know how carefully Apple plans its products, and I'm almost sure that's not the reason."

Does Apple need a license from Qualcomm even if it uses its own baseband chip? The answer is simple: yes.

OEM needs a license to sell their mobile devices, no matter whose baseband they use. Even now, when Apple uses Qualcomm's baseband chips, it has two contracts, one for licensing and the other for baseband supply. As made clear in the FTC case, there must be a firewall between the two companies.

Samsung is a case in point.

Samsung, an OEM that sells many mobile devices, has its own modem. Last week, Qualcomm and Samsung announced the extension of their existing licensing contracts for another seven years (until 2030) and signed a separate Snapdragon platform supply agreement.

In short, after studying all possible angles, it is clear that patents cannot be the reason for Apple's so-called delay in the development of baseband chips.

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