Apple & Qualcomm are FRANDs again!

Given that Apple contributed around 12-13% of Qualcomm’s revenues at the peak, it is not surprising that the two ending their billions-of-dollar lawsuits sent the latter’s stock soaring 23% immediately. Apart from a six-year global patent licensing agreement, Apple is believed to have paid Qualcomm around $5-6bn of pending royalties. When the two snapped ties in 2017, and Apple started producing devices without Qualcomm chips, the latter’s stock crashed 17% between December 30, 2016 and January 27, 2017 which is few days after Apple filed its first lawsuit. And from $57.18 on April 15 this year, the stock soared to $79.08 on April 17, the day after the settlement.

The fact that Apple has got back with Qualcomm underscores the quality of the latter’s technology since, while Apple had started working more with Intel, it didn’t have the same edge. And with Qualcomm supplying 5G modems, Apple’s rivals like Samsung had a head start. Once Apple-Qualcomm patched up, Intel said it would quit the 5G modem market.