‘Apple wanted to buy 5G chips from Samsung in 2019, but it could not supply enough’

Apple is said to have been at the negotiating table with Samsung in 2019. The company was interested in purchasing 5G modems from the South Korean manufacturer, but Samsung reportedly could not supply enough chips to meet Apple’s demand.

According to The Korea Economic Daily Apple was also negotiating with Qualcomm that year to purchase 5G modems. These negotiations reportedly went poorly, causing Apple to turn to Samsung to purchase smartphone 5G chips. The South Korean manufacturer concluded that it could not meet Apple’s demand and therefore Apple had to return to the table with Qualcomm. Those two companies struck a deal that expired in 2023.

At the beginning of September, Apple announced that it had signed a new deal with Qualcomm. Qualcomm will continue to supply smartphone 5G modems to Apple through 2026. The two companies do not report the amounts involved in the deal. Apple has been working on its own 5G modems for several years. The American company acquired Intel’s 5G division for a billion dollars in 2020. According to some sources, Apple’s 5G chips are three years behind Qualcomm’s best modem chips.

Qualcomm mmwave 5g antenna