Apple and Qualcomm ended an intense years-long battle patent dispute earlier this April, which led to many people questioning whether there’s any bad blood between the two companies. According to Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf however, the two companies don’t really have any bad blood going on between them.
Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer asked Mollenkopf “It seemed like there was a lot of bad blood between [Apple and Qualcomm],” Serwer said. “I mean, were you guys bitter enemies and now you toss that aside?” on an episode of his weekly interview series, and it prompted a rather interesting answer from the Qualcomm CEO.
“Effectively, yes,” said Mollenkopf. “I mean, and I would say not the bitter enemies part. Look, there’s a lot of money that goes back and forth. And I think we both were able to resolve that. And now the focus is really on products.” This is an especially important point, as Apple needs to work with Qualcomm if they want to join in on the on-going 5G race.
Qualcomm’s been one of the heavy hitters when it comes to 5G development, and it only makes sense that Apple would want to work with them when it comes to pushing out 5G technology. They definitely don’t want to lag behind other players. Losing out to big competitors like Samsung is one thing, but even smaller companies are hopping on the bandwagon, and Apple doesn’t want to be left behind.
“I’m very happy that that’s now 100% of the discussion between the companies, which is, how do we get these two great engineering teams together and create products?” Mollenkopf told Serwer. “That’s a much more natural discussion between the two companies and something I enjoy much more than the other part. But we got through it. It’s just business. And now we’re into the product part.”
In addition to settling its dispute with Qualcomm, Apple also recently acquired Intel’s smartphone modem chip business for around $1 billion. So, it is plausible that the tech giant could begin to develop its own 5G chips. For now, though, the partnership between Qualcomm and Apple appears productive.
“Clearly, the companies have turned the page, and I applaud that,” said Mollenkopf. “I think it’s great.”
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