Apple intends to go a step further by developing new technology for its own broadband modems which will be incorporated into its future iPhone models. The news was published by Bloomberg, hosting statements from Johny Srouji, the company’s head of hardware technology, who stated:

“This year, we started developing our own broadband modems which will allow us to conduct another key strategic transition. Long-term strategic investments like this are critically important because they ensure we maintain a rich pipeline of innovative technologies for the future“.

This move was expected as Apple acquired Intel’s modem manufacturing unit in July 2019, paving the way for the construction of its own modems. The company seems to become increasingly autonomous as it separates from Qualcomm, which still remains strong, undertaking a huge manufacturing project on behalf of many technology companies and maintaining a large volume of patent licenses and intellectual property rights for various technologies.

In fact, Apple before the purchase agreement of the modem department reached a settlement with Qualcomm as the latter was in a legal dispute with Intel over the use of technologies and their copying. The settlement stipulated a payment of 4.5 billion dollars in order for Apple to get the chips it needed to manufacture the first 5G iPhones. However, Apple’s move is considered of strategic importance as it can now be autonomous. Of course, this is significant for the other two companies if one considers that Apple is responsible for 7% of Intel’s sales and 11% of Qualcomm’s respectively.