Apple: Never want Intel to be an exclusive baseband supplier

Currently, Qualcomm is in talks with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on an antitrust lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Qualcomm uses some unfair competition to maintain its dominant position in the global smartphone chip market. Several representatives of Apple have testified in court and mentioned some information that has not been exposed before.

Reuters reported on Saturday that Tony Blevins, Apple's head of supply chain, said Apple had considered buying 5G LTE modems from companies such as Samsung, MediaTek and Intel for the 2019 iPhone line.

Qualcomm used to be the sole supplier of Apple's iPhone modem, but on the iPhone 7, Apple allocated modem orders to Qualcomm and Intel, and the 2018 iPhone lineup all used Intel's modems, but Tony Blevins' testimony showed that Apple has been Strive to diversify the supply of modems.

According to Blevins, during the period when Apple only used Qualcomm chips, Apple also hoped to use chips from other vendors, but signed an exclusive agreement with Qualcomm. Qualcomm has provided high rebates on patent licensing to prevent Apple from diversifying. For example, in 2013, Apple terminated plans to let Intel supply modems for the iPad mini 2, because the use of Intel chips will lose Qualcomm's rebate, which Tony Blevins said makes Intel's products "economically unattractive."

Apple eventually introduced a second modem vendor in 2016 and 2017, and the legal dispute with Qualcomm "in a very profound and negative way" affected the relationship between the two companies, causing Apple to use only Intel chips. . However, Apple has never wanted Intel to be the sole supplier, but has always wanted to work with a number of companies.

"The whole idea of Project Antique is to find a second supplier. Although there is no intention to offend (Intel), we don't want them to be a single supplier. We hope that both Qualcomm and Intel can participate."

Although Tony Blevins mentioned the supplier of 5G modems, he did not end up with whether Apple has decided on a 5G modem supplier, nor did it say that the 2019 iPhone product line plans to use a 5G modem. There are rumors that Apple has no plans to launch an iPhone series that supports 5G technology in 2019. The company will not add 5G support to the iPhone until 2020.