Apple has yet to comment on the extended deal with Qualcomm. The tech giant has been trying for years to develop its own 5G modems to replace Qualcomm's modems. In 2019, the company acquired Intel's modem division in a $1 billion deal. This acquisition gave Apple more than 17,000 patents and more than 2,200 Intel employees. However, Apple has had problems with the development of 5G modems. Prototypes failed to outperform Qualcomm's modems in terms of performance and efficiency.
The iPhone 2024 Pro models to be released in 16 are rumored to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon X75 modem with improved carrier aggregation and more efficient transceiver.