On April 29, it was reported by foreign media that Apple considered designing its own modem chip (baseband) in the company before settling with Qualcomm. In February this year, Apple poached Umashankar Thyagarajan, who is responsible for Intel's 5G mobile technology. Before joining Apple, Thyagarajan was in charge of Intel's department that made modem chips for Apple. The 4G modem chips he developed were used in the iPhone in 2018.

After Apple and Qualcomm announced a settlement, Intel immediately canceled the mobile 5G modem business. Thiagarajan's resignation may be one of the reasons why Intel canceled the business so quickly. It is reported that Intel is seeking to divest its mobile chip business. Although there are rumors that the division is losing $1 billion annually, some companies are still interested in the division. Samsung, Broadcom and ON Semiconductor are all interested in this business, which may bring Intel billions of dollars in revenue.

Apple needs to pay a one-time fee to Qualcomm in exchange for a six-year licensing agreement, including a two-year extension option and a multi-year chip supply agreement. Since several 5G Android phones were released this year, and Apple did not want to lag behind, the company seems to be designing its own 5G modem chip even though it reached a settlement with Qualcomm. The project was led by Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technology.

Foreign media predict that the modem chips designed by Apple will not be mass produced in time next year, which means that Apple will use Qualcomm's chips for at least one year. By 2021, Apple will have the conditions to use its own modem chip in the iPhone.

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