5G iPhones pack new surprise for Qualcomm

It’s hard for Apple Inc. to spring a surprise these days, but the company’s recent iPhone 12 unveiling had a small shocker: Old adversary Qualcomm is getting an extra charge.

Four new iPhone 12 models were introduced last week, with two of them—the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro—hitting stores on Friday. All four will include the next-generation wireless standard known as 5G, catching some analysts off-guard. They had predicted that the high cost of the necessary chips and limited availability of such networks would drive Apple to include 5G only in the higher end of the new lineup.

Instead, Apple turned its event into a full-throated embrace of 5G. It gave particular attention to the variant known as millimeter wave, or mmWave, which delivers the highest speeds but is also sharply limited in range and availability.