Apple might be trying to break up with Qualcomm, but this relationship still has some legs.
As reported by Bloomberg, Qualcomm says that it will continue to provide the "vast majority" of the modems in the iPhone through at least the end of next year, a change from what it had earlier expected from Apple.
In a statement related to the company's quarterly earnings call, Qualcomm said that it "expects to retain its current foothold, according to comments that accompanied its earnings report Wednesday. The statement confirmed that Apple won’t be moving to its own in-house modem design for next year’s models."
Apple is still working on its own modems
The move is a boost for Qualcomm which originally expected to lose the majority of its business with Apple as soon as next year. Apple, after acquiring Intel's modem business years ago, has been attempting to create its own in-house modems to power the iPhone.
However, the company has been running into issues bringing that plan to fruition. According to reports from earlier this year, the in-house modem that Apple has been working on has run into overheating problems. The switch from Qualcomm to its own modem is reportedly now delayed until at least 2024.
Now, instead of only providing 20% of the 5G modem parts for the new iPhones in 2023, Qualcomm expects to provide the majority of parts for the iPhone 15 and other models that Apple may release next year like the suspected redesign of the iPhone SE.
While this is certainly a temporary boost for Qualcomm, the company did say that it "continues to assume it will only receive minimal revenue contributions from Apple in fiscal 2025." That's not surprising as Apple, outside of the modem, has been killing it when it comes to building its own in-house processors.
Apple has not yet responded to Bloomberg after the outlet reached out for a comment.
