Apple will use Qualcomm’s 5G modems in iPhones for the next four years

A document on the settlement that Qualcomm and Apple reached last year states that Apple will use the Snapdragon X55, X60, X65 and X70 modems in its smartphones. The 5G modems will end up in iPhones that come out until 2024.

Apple will release multiple iPhones with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X55 modem between June this year and May next year. A year later, models with the Snapdragon X60 modem will follow, and between June 2022 and 2024 there will be iPhones with the Snapdragon X65 or X70. Apple and Qualcomm laid down this in the settlement they reached last year. Tech journalist Roland Quandt noticed that. The document from which he quotes appears to be online at Docket Alarm.

The document contains, among other things, the agreements that Apple and Qualcomm have made about the deliveries of chips. Technical details and prices are censored. The document does mention the upcoming modems from Qualcomm, which the company has not yet announced.

In early 2019, Qualcomm introduced its Snapdragon X55 modem. That is a 5g modem that is made at 7nm and this year will also be combined in many Android smartphones with the Snapdragon 865-soc. Apple does not use Snapdragon socs, but will purchase modems from Qualcomm in the coming years. The current iPhone 11 series contains 4g modems from Intel.

The document does not rule out Apple releasing iPhones with other modems. Shortly after Qualcomm and Apple settled and it became known that the iPhone maker had signed a six-year chip deal with the modem manufacturer, Intel stopped developing 5G modems. Apple was the main customer of Intel’s modem division. A few months later, Apple bought Intel’s smartphone modem division with the aim of developing its own 5G modems. It will probably be years before Apple can use its own 5G modem.