Not sure if this is a good move or not. Time will tell. I do think it makes sense for Apple not to be 100% reliant on Qualcomm for it's future 5G modems. In typical Apple fashion, they will want to optimize the hardware and software stacks for any unique features as well as maximum performance. Also, from everything I've read this Fall's refreshes will still have Lightning and 4G while the Fall 2020 refresh will introduce USB-C and 5G into the platform.
Have those Nortel patents for LTE that Apple bought amounted to anything yet? I ask because I wonder if this is about Apple investing in their cellular radios or using it as a investment to stave off future patent trolls.
What do you mean? From the first sentence: “furthering the tech giant's plans to take ownership of iPhone's communications stack.“
Which is as vague as when Apple bought Primesense and Authentic.
Yeah motion detection and fingerprint sensing but Apple goes above and beyond their acquisitions wildest possibilities. We never imagined ApplePay, Sign in with Apple and Animoji. Don't think Apple will be on stage and just say "By the way, we make our own modems now" and move on to the next announcement.
My mind can only comprehend some possibilities for now: The worlds fastest 5G system on chip in the world. May even be in it's own class and chip.
Still don't know what you mean. The reason they bought this was obvious, as you stated at the end — they're building a 5G modem, have problems with Qualcomm, Intel quit the biz but holds significant IP and may have made progress on certain things that can accelerate development, etc. I don't know what you mean with regard to Primesense and Authentic — those technologies were means to an end in the exact same way. If your point is that they're not *just* going to make a 5G modem and stop there, then "duh".
What do you mean? From the first sentence: “furthering the tech giant's plans to take ownership of iPhone's communications stack.“
Which is as vague as when Apple bought Primesense and Authentic.
Yeah motion detection and fingerprint sensing but Apple goes above and beyond their acquisitions wildest possibilities. We never imagined ApplePay, Sign in with Apple and Animoji. Don't think Apple will be on stage and just say "By the way, we make our own modems now" and move on to the next announcement.
My mind can only comprehend some possibilities for now: The worlds fastest 5G system on chip in the world. May even be in it's own class and chip.
Still don't know what you mean. The reason they bought this was obvious, as you stated at the end — they're building a 5G modem, have problems with Qualcomm, Intel quit the biz but holds significant IP and may have made progress on certain things that can accelerate development, etc. I don't know what you mean with regard to Primesense and Authentic — those technologies were means to an end in the exact same way. If your point is that they're not *just* going to make a 5G modem and stop there, then "duh".
Cellular equipped Macs. Those are going to be great. Nearly everyone who uses an Always Connected PC or cellular iPad swears by being, well, always connected. Integrating this into all Macbooks will heavily drive up the added value for each on. Might even be able to supercharge the new Find My ecosystem, though I don't think that Apple will do that. Not until the modems are power efficient enough to compete with Bluetooth for device tracking.
All in all, very exciting to see what Apple will do with this acquisition beyond simply slapping another Apple-made part into the iPhone in lieu of a non-Apple-made part.
Intels CPU chips are also slowly falling behind. Which makes me wonder if Apple is ready to acquire that business too.
LOL what are you smoking?
Common sense?
How is it common sense that Apple would buy out Intel's CPU division, which is like 60% revenue of a company with a $233B market cap? Especially when all signs have been pointing to their own silicon development?
Apple has been making more and more of their own chips. It started with Apple's A4 processor. They'\re now doing their own GPU, I believe Battery chips, The T1, and W1, etc. The modem is a big part of a smartphone. That is something else Apple wants full control of. They can custom build the chips to their own specs. Not some general modem that works for anything and everything. Apple may have their own idea's on the area's to best focus on and in the end, end up with a much better modem for themselves that ONLY they can use. A modem not found on any other phone but iPhones.
To just get away from Qualcomm is a huge plus. Tired of being raped by them. Because the iPhones are higher end phones, Apple is charged MORE that most Android phones made that are sold for a lot less. They're charging by the device price being sold, not their tech on the chip.
It's a smart move. Maybe by the time I'm ready to upgrade, that new iPhone will have Apple's own modem in it. I upgrade every 4 years. So I got the iPhone XS last year, 2018, so that means whatever the phone is called in 2022, that will be the iPhone I get. I upgrade my phones every 4 years. I had a iPhone 6 and a iPhone 4, and before that dumb phones which I upgraded every 4 years also. It's worked out pretty good for me. Though I have to say, I think this INTEL modem sucks! It's weak in area's I connected better on my iPhone 6. If there's a really good reason to upgrade in 2-3 years, maybe I will. Only time will tell.
I'd say this is bad news for Qualcomm. Intel wasn't a competitive threat, but Qualcomm could claim they were when anti-trust regulators came snooping around.
Now, these Intel assets will become a genuine competitive threat, but only for iPhones -- Qualcomm will be perceived (rightly so) as a monopolist in the Android space (well, at least in markets where IP laws are enforced, aka not China), and they will face stronger antitrust scrutiny.
Intels CPU chips are also slowly falling behind. Which makes me wonder if Apple is ready to acquire that business too.
LOL what are you smoking?
Common sense?
How is it common sense that Apple would buy out Intel's CPU division, which is like 60% revenue of a company with a $233B market cap? Especially when all signs have been pointing to their own silicon development?
They don’t need to buy the whole CPU division, they may just license some x86 if Intel somewhat continuously fails to deliver. That last deal shows their business alliance goes well beyond pop-culture memes and urban legends.
Intels CPU chips are also slowly falling behind. Which makes me wonder if Apple is ready to acquire that business too.
LOL what are you smoking?
Common sense?
How is it common sense that Apple would buy out Intel's CPU division, which is like 60% revenue of a company with a $233B market cap? Especially when all signs have been pointing to their own silicon development?
It was just an idea based on events. No need to get riled up.
I was not aware that their market cap was that huge but as I said, if they keep delivering too late they can't stay valuable forever. Any company can drop in value with stagnation. But with that big of a market cap it will take more time than I thought.
Of course anything can happen and Intel can began to deliver again.
"Especially when all signs have been pointing to their own silicon development?"
Isn't this what they were doing with modems? Exactly why I thought in the future Intel(or at least their CPU patents) could be a buy.
Cellular equipped Macs. Those are going to be great. Nearly everyone who uses an Always Connected PC or cellular iPad swears by being, well, always connected. Integrating this into all Macbooks will heavily drive up the added value for each on. Might even be able to supercharge the new Find My ecosystem, though I don't think that Apple will do that. Not until the modems are power efficient enough to compete with Bluetooth for device tracking.
All in all, very exciting to see what Apple will do with this acquisition beyond simply slapping another Apple-made part into the iPhone in lieu of a non-Apple-made part.
Exactly! Someone thinking outside the box. I didn't even think of Macs.
Like I said earlier Apple could provide a service that connects all you iCloud devices online including Macs.
Imagine your Apple TV, Glasses, Macs, Car, iPad all connected to the fastest network in the world seamlessly and communicating. Like we said, I doubt Apple will just slap the modem into iPhones and call it a day. There's more coming.
Intels CPU chips are also slowly falling behind. Which makes me wonder if Apple is ready to acquire that business too.
LOL what are you smoking?
Common sense?
How is it common sense that Apple would buy out Intel's CPU division, which is like 60% revenue of a company with a $233B market cap? Especially when all signs have been pointing to their own silicon development?
They don’t need to buy the whole CPU division, they may just license some x86 if Intel somewhat continuously fails to deliver. That last deal shows their business alliance goes well beyond pop-culture memes and urban legends.
Well, that's something else entirely than what I was responding to.
Intels CPU chips are also slowly falling behind. Which makes me wonder if Apple is ready to acquire that business too.
LOL what are you smoking?
Common sense?
How is it common sense that Apple would buy out Intel's CPU division, which is like 60% revenue of a company with a $233B market cap? Especially when all signs have been pointing to their own silicon development?
It was just an idea based on events. No need to get riled up.
I was not aware that their market cap was that huge but as I said, if they keep delivering too late they can't stay valuable forever. Any company can drop in value with stagnation. But with that big of a market cap it will take more time than I thought.
Of course anything can happen and Intel can began to deliver again.
So who then in this fantasy scenario would be making CPUs for the entire worldwide PC/server market? Keep in mind AMD licenses x86 from Intel.
Intels CPU chips are also slowly falling behind. Which makes me wonder if Apple is ready to acquire that business too.
LOL what are you smoking?
Common sense?
How is it common sense that Apple would buy out Intel's CPU division, which is like 60% revenue of a company with a $233B market cap? Especially when all signs have been pointing to their own silicon development?
It was just an idea based on events. No need to get riled up.
I was not aware that their market cap was that huge but as I said, if they keep delivering too late they can't stay valuable forever. Any company can drop in value with stagnation. But with that big of a market cap it will take more time than I thought.
Of course anything can happen and Intel can began to deliver again.
So who then in this fantasy scenario would be making CPUs for the entire worldwide PC/server market? Keep in mind AMD licenses x86 from Intel.
Already explained. Who would have guessed just 4 years ago Apple would acquire this business? Anything can happen in 5-10 years.
Do you think IF Apple releases ARM Macs some of Intels patents/expertise won't overlap? You got me on the market cap comment, I didn't realize it was so huge. I was thinking 20B and would tank if a competitor arose.
Again I ask what patents are really worth when anyone can steal your ideas nowadays. Apple on the other hand plays by the rules.
Edit: Oops misread your comment. I think Intel can as a separate developer/manufacturing entity.
Comments
As a defensive move, Apple had no choice. Let QCOM or someone else buy up these patents? Not on your life.
Stating the obvious. Thanks.
Common sense?
All in all, very exciting to see what Apple will do with this acquisition beyond simply slapping another Apple-made part into the iPhone in lieu of a non-Apple-made part.
To just get away from Qualcomm is a huge plus. Tired of being raped by them. Because the iPhones are higher end phones, Apple is charged MORE that most Android phones made that are sold for a lot less. They're charging by the device price being sold, not their tech on the chip.
It's a smart move. Maybe by the time I'm ready to upgrade, that new iPhone will have Apple's own modem in it. I upgrade every 4 years. So I got the iPhone XS last year, 2018, so that means whatever the phone is called in 2022, that will be the iPhone I get. I upgrade my phones every 4 years. I had a iPhone 6 and a iPhone 4, and before that dumb phones which I upgraded every 4 years also. It's worked out pretty good for me. Though I have to say, I think this INTEL modem sucks! It's weak in area's I connected better on my iPhone 6. If there's a really good reason to upgrade in 2-3 years, maybe I will. Only time will tell.
Now, these Intel assets will become a genuine competitive threat, but only for iPhones -- Qualcomm will be perceived (rightly so) as a monopolist in the Android space (well, at least in markets where IP laws are enforced, aka not China), and they will face stronger antitrust scrutiny.
Ha!
It was just an idea based on events. No need to get riled up.
I was not aware that their market cap was that huge but as I said, if they keep delivering too late they can't stay valuable forever. Any company can drop in value with stagnation. But with that big of a market cap it will take more time than I thought.
Of course anything can happen and Intel can began to deliver again.
"Especially when all signs have been pointing to their own silicon development?"
Isn't this what they were doing with modems? Exactly why I thought in the future Intel(or at least their CPU patents) could be a buy.
Exactly! Someone thinking outside the box. I didn't even think of Macs.
Like I said earlier Apple could provide a service that connects all you iCloud devices online including Macs.
Imagine your Apple TV, Glasses, Macs, Car, iPad all connected to the fastest network in the world seamlessly and communicating. Like we said, I doubt Apple will just slap the modem into iPhones and call it a day. There's more coming.
So who then in this fantasy scenario would be making CPUs for the entire worldwide PC/server market? Keep in mind AMD licenses x86 from Intel.
Already explained. Who would have guessed just 4 years ago Apple would acquire this business? Anything can happen in 5-10 years.
Do you think IF Apple releases ARM Macs some of Intels patents/expertise won't overlap? You got me on the market cap comment, I didn't realize it was so huge. I was thinking 20B and would tank if a competitor arose.
Again I ask what patents are really worth when anyone can steal your ideas nowadays. Apple on the other hand plays by the rules.
Edit: Oops misread your comment. I think Intel can as a separate developer/manufacturing entity.