Apple renews its Qualcomm patent license as its own modems replace Qualcomm chips in iPhones

Buy an iPhone 18 Pro Max in a US store this year and you walk out with a Qualcomm modem. Six Colors reports that the same model sold outside the US has no Qualcomm modem, and neither does any other new iPhone ^[7]. Apple is moving to its own C-series chips one model at a time. Six Colors says they seem to offer better performance and power efficiency, and the C2 adds mmWave support ^[16].

The usual case for in-house silicon is that it ends a vendor relationship. So far Apple has ended one of its two contracts with Qualcomm ^[15]. Swapping the modem changes who supplies the part. GSMArena's reading of the renewal is that even if Apple dropped Qualcomm modems completely, it would still pay Qualcomm an undisclosed amount for the use of its patents ^[13].

Qualcomm's entire public statement is one line from John Han, who runs its licensing business. "We are pleased to extend the Apple license agreement," Han said ^[2]. GSMArena puts the brevity down to confidential terms ^[3]. Neither report says which patents the license covers. The two reports also give different dates for the previous extension. GSMArena says Apple used an option in the 2019 deal in 2024 to move the end date to March 2027 ^[5]. Six Colors dates the last re-up to 2023 and says it ran through 2026 ^[14].

Six Colors offers two possible reasons for the one model that still carries a Qualcomm modem. Apple needs a lot of modems and perhaps cannot yet make enough for every phone, iPad and Apple Watch it sells ^[17]. The terms of the licensing agreement and the end of the court case may also play a part ^[18]. The site expects Apple devices to carry fewer and fewer Qualcomm modems, since "they didn't buy an entire modem division for nothing" ^[10]. It also wrote that untangling the relationship "can take a long time, given manufacturing timelines" ^[12].

If your team is weighing its own build, split the vendor relationship into two bills. The first pays for the part. It shrinks only as fast as your own production covers your volume. The second pays for the right to use someone else's inventions, and bringing the part in-house does not change it.

A plan can be sorted by two questions: does the team make the part, and does it hold the rights the part depends on. Apple's 2019 arrangement answered no to both, with a supply agreement plus royalties ^[4]. Making the part while still licensing the rights ends the component invoice and keeps the royalty. The incumbent drops off every invoice only when a company both makes the part and owns the rights. The fourth combination, buying a part built on rights you own, is the one where the supplier pays royalties to you. On the evidence in both reports, Apple will be in the second box from April 1, 2027 ^[15].