Qualcomm announces renewal of global patent license deal with Apple

In a very short press statement, Qualcomm today confirmed the renewal of its ongoing global patent licensing agreement with Apple, effective April 1, 2027. (Ironically that’s 51 years to the day since Apple was originally incorporated).

The news was short on detail:

“We are pleased to extend the Apple license agreement,” said John Han, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL).

No further details were provided.

To avoid confusion, it seems worth noting that the patent arrangement is different from the supply deal both companies had under which Qualcomm would supply Apple with 5G modems until the end of this year.

That has not been renewed which means Apple will continue to transition to its own Apple-made modems.

This deal therefore relates to patents, presumably for 5G, that Qualcomm holds. The deal shows that Apple hasn’t as yet been able to bring to market product that doesn’t require use of aspects of those patents, which kind of suggests they should be made available on a FRAND basis, though perhaps that’s an old-fashioned approach. 

The duration of the new deal hasn’t been revealed. The last Apple product holding a Qualcomm modem is the iPhone 18 Pro Max, but only those old in the U.S.

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