Apple acquires Intel’s 5G smartphone modem business for $1B

It would be interesting to see how well Apple can design a cellular modem. Many believe Apple will design amazing modem, pointing to the incredibly good A-series ARM SOC and other chips as supporting evidence. However, IMO modem design is a completely different animal. In addition to the RF/mixed signal, there’s also the need to interoperate with wireless service providers in tens (to hundred something) wireless providers. The operating environments and edge cases are much more varied and numerous than the ARM SOC, which Apple controls all surrounding interfaces.

It’s a good long term strategic move, since it will keep a second source for modem alive. Just by volume, Apple certainly moves sufficient phones to fund design of 1 to 2 modems. Apple does have the advantage that its own modem can be tailored to its own requirement, whereas Qualcomm modem need to satisfy requirements from different customers (similar to how everyone only uses 20% of Excel, but that 20% is different for everyone, thus creating bloat). This should allow Apple modem to be simpler, more focuses, and more streamlined compared to Qualcomm modem, which should help with power efficiency and reduce implementation complexity.

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20529001