Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon revealed on December 5 that their cooperation with Apple has gradually resumed, and the primary goal of both parties is to launch the 5G iPhone as soon as possible.
As we all know, due to 5G modems and other reasons, Apple has not launched a 5G iPhone this year, which has seen Apple to lag behind Samsung and Huawei competitors in 5G.
In addition, Qualcomm also pointed out that only 5G basebands that support the Sub-6GHz and millimeter wave dual bands are true 5G. This view is considered to be ironic that Huawei Richard Yu has repeatedly stated that "5G in the SA/NSA dual networking mode. "It's true 5G."
Regardless of the current cooperation between Apple and Qualcomm, or Qualcomm's view on "true 5G", to a certain extent, in the 5G mobile phone market, the war between Qualcomm and Apple against Huawei is imminent.
Qualcomm vs Apple
Beginning in 2017, Apple and Qualcomm have been trapped in long-time patent disputes.
However, the dispute that lasted more than two years was abruptly announced in April this year. The two sides shake hands and reached a six-year technology license agreement, including an option for a two-year extension and a multi-year Chip Supply Agreement.
Industry insiders generally speculate that because Apple and Qualcomm have been in a patent dispute, Apple chose to move orders to Intel, but Intel's 5G progress is slow, and Apple can't wait.
It is not difficult to see Apple's anxiety from the declining sales.
Gartner's global smartphone market report for the third quarter of 2019 shows that Apple's mobile phone sales continued to decline to 40.8 million units in the third quarter of 2019, a 10.7% decrease year-on-year, and its market share was only 10.5%, lower than 11.8% in the same period last year. And the gap between Huawei and Huawei is widening.
In the face of the sluggish market environment, coupled with the consensus of all mobile phone manufacturers that 5G will bring the next round of growth OPPOrtunities, Apple naturally "cannot let go" Qualcomm.
Earlier, regarding the issue of Apple's failure to launch a 5G mobile phone, Apple CEO Cook said that 5G is still a bit ahead of time, and neither the infrastructure nor the chip is mature enough to support the launch of a high-quality product.
In April this year, there were media reports that Apple had intended to purchase Exynos Modem 5100 5G baseband chips from Samsung Electronics, but Samsung rejected Apple's procurement requirements due to insufficient capacity.
In contrast, Qualcomm, with its Snapdragon 855 and X50 and X55 modems, has already cooperated with Xiaomi, OPPO, ZTE, Samsung, LG, OnePlus, vivo and other mobile phone manufacturers.
At the Qualcomm Snapdragon Annual Technology Summit, Qualcomm once again announced the 2020 new flagship chip Snapdragon 865 and said it would be used for high-end Android phones such as Samsung ’s Galaxy or Google ’s Pixel.
At the same time, Qualcomm also said that the Snapdragon 865 will only be carried in new 5G equipment and will be bundled with a separate 5G modem X55.
In this way, the cooperation with Qualcomm will undoubtedly accelerate the speed of Apple's launch of 5G mobile phones, and Apple will soon join the enthusiastic 5G competition of first-tier mobile phone manufacturers.
Analysts at JP Morgan Chase predict that all four devices listed next fall will be equipped with better OLED screens and support 5G networks. Last week, a similar forecast was released in a research report released by Strategy Analytics, "Apple will enter the 5G field in the third quarter."
Other Apple suppliers are also preparing for the transition. According to the Japanese news website Nikkei, Apple supplier Murata Manufacturing has recently developed an "ultra-small" version of key electronic components, which will allow Apple to make some valuable space for its 5G version of the iPhone.
In addition, according to the Taiwan Economic Daily quoted by PhoneArena, Taiwan ’s supply plant will also further expand production, also for the launch of Apple ’s 5G iPhone next year.
Cristiano Amon said at the meeting: "We may sign a contract later than the parties hope, but we have been working together to achieve the task as quickly as possible and make the most of what they have done before. So that we can really launch 5G phones on time. "
In addition, foreign media have previously revealed that Apple is also independently developing 5G Modem chips and will be officially used in iPhone and iPad in 2022. But the acquisition of Intel's baseband business has shortened development time a lot.
According to the latest news from the industry chain on November 25, Apple is accelerating the self-developed 5G baseband project. If all goes well, they are expected to launch the iPhone equipped with self-developed 5G baseband as soon as 2021.
The news also mentioned that the baseband will not be supplied on a large scale in the early stage. In addition to the difficulty in mass production, they also want to test the integrity of the baseband through the market in order to facilitate later design adjustments and improvements.
From this point of view, with cooperation to ensure undefeated short-term war and self-research to accumulate long-term combat energy, Apple has chosen a more cost-effective strategy.
Lei Jun once said that "5G will bring earth-shaking changes in the fields of communications, mobile Internet and AIoT in the next year". The cooperation between Apple and Qualcomm will undoubtedly cast more variables into the 5G mobile phone market.
Intensified war at home and abroad
2020 is the year when 5G is officially launched for commercial use. The prelude to the 5G mobile war among domestic mobile phone manufacturers has begun.
At this year's MWC2019 conference, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, ZTE and other mobile phone manufacturers all showed 5G mobile phones. Earlier, China Unicom announced the first batch of 6 mobile phone terminals, 5 industry terminals and 4 module products with 5G functions, including Huawei, OPPO, vivo and other brands.
At the 4th Qualcomm Snapdragon Technology Summit just held on December 3, Qualcomm announced the 5G chip Snapdragon 865. A group of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers announced that they will soon release 5G phones equipped with the Snapdragon 865 chip.
Both Xiaomi and OPPO executives stated that they will plan to use Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 865 chip in their 5G flagship mobile phones launched in the first quarter of 2020.
In addition, Chinese OEMs, ODM manufacturers and brands including Coolpad, Lenovo, Meizu, TCL, vivo, Wingtech, and ZTE are planning to adopt Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 5G mobile platform in 5G mobile terminals released in 2020 and in the future.
The arrival of 5G is expected to reverse the sluggish growth of mobile phone sales, and no one wants to let go of this great market OPPOrtunity.
"The 5G mobile phone market must be won!" Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi Group, said that by 2020, Xiaomi has at least 10 5G mobile phones. Before that, Xiaomi has released two 5G mobile phones in China, including Xiaomi 9 Pro and MIX Alpha. Prices are too expensive.
On November 26, Huawei Honor released the V30 series of 5G mobile phones, priced from 3299 yuan, and introduced 5G competition from the high-end flagship to the mid-range model. The Snapdragon 765 / 765G chip released by Qualcomm is aimed at the mid-range. It is expected that a large number of 5G mobile phones with a price of around 3,000 yuan will be listed in 2020, and the low price is the main force to promote 5G large-scale commercial use.
In April this year, OPPO first launched the OPPO Reno 5G version in Switzerland, becoming the first company to market 5G commercial mobile phones in Europe, and the first Chinese brand to launch 5G mobile phones in overseas markets. Immediately after, OPPO launched 5G mobile phones in the UK, Italy, Australia and other overseas markets, and cooperated with operators including EE in the UK, TIM in Italy, Swiss Power in Switzerland, and Telstra in Australia.
Data show that OPPO 5G mobile phone sales accounted for 12% of Swiss power channels; UK EE accounted for 20%, and Australia Telstra July accounted for 69%. OPPO can be said to be the first to explore the overseas 5G market.
At the 4th Qualcomm Snapdragon Technology Summit held on December 3, OPPO announced that it will launch the first batch of flagship 5G mobile phones based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon TM865 mobile platform in the first quarter of 2020.
In addition, the new Reno3 Pro, which will be officially released in December, will be the first to carry Qualcomm's new generation Snapdragon 765G integrated 5G mobile platform, which will be OPPO's first dual-mode 5G mobile phone.
Earlier this year, vivo and OPPO launched the "APEX 2019 Concept Machine" with full 5G functions, which has already led the industry in 5G R & D speed. In the second half of 2019, vivo is the first to release two 5G mobile phones to the market, so that ordinary consumers can enjoy the 5G network in advance.
In August, iQOO, a subsidiary of vivo, released the iQOO Pro 5G version in Beijing, and won the title of "5G Real Fragrant Machine" at the price of 3798 and the mainstream configuration. Netizens have enjoyed it, and the cost performance is indeed higher than expected. less. As a result, many netizens can't help but sigh, the same 5G mobile phone, the domestic price is more than moving abroad.
Recently, OnePlus also plans to enter Sprint with its first 5G mobile phone, and the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G version is the protagonist of this time.
The biggest difference between the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G and the original OnePlus 7 Pro is that it will support Sprint's mid-band 2.5GHz 5G network. The price of 840 US dollars is currently the cheapest 5G mobile phone launched by major carriers. Sprint's LG V50 5G costs $ 1,000 and Samsung's Galaxy S10 5G costs $ 1,300.
At present, the 5G mobile phone market in overseas markets is dominated by Samsung, LG, OnePlus, and Motorola. However, with the domestic mobile phone manufacturers overseas, Apple has accelerated the pace of launching 5G mobile phones, and this situation is being broken. Overseas, a real battle for the 5G mobile phone market is about to begin.
Thanks to Xiaomi Mix 3 5G and Xiaomi 9 Pro, Xiaomi is a leader in affordable 5G mobile phones. The latter is priced at $ 520 in China, less than half the $ 1,299 Galaxy S10 5G. At present, Xiaomi Mix 3 is already available in the UK.
Xiaomi and OPPO took the lead in capturing overseas markets in Europe, Britain and other places. The new Reno 5G mobile phone launched by OPPO can also be used in the UK.
At this point, Apple's entry will bring more shock and uncertainty to the global market competition. At Qualcomm's Snapdragon Technology Summit on December 5, Qualcomm's president said: Apple and Qualcomm are working hard to launch a 5G iPhone at an extremely fast speed.
Although Apple has not launched the 5G iPhone, due to various reasons such as Apple brand influence and high user loyalty, most analysts predict that Apple will lead the 5G smartphone market in 2020.
According to Strategy Analytics data, Samsung's current global market share is about 40%, and Huawei's market share is 30%. Apple hasn't launched a 5G phone yet, but this will change when the next batch of 5G iPhones is released.
Strategy Hycom analyst Ken Hyers believes that Apple has not yet launched 5G mobile phones. Once launched, it is likely to exceed current 5G market leaders Samsung and Huawei and will lead the 5G smartphone market in 2020.
After September 2020, Apple only needs to keep the upgrade speed of newly launched iPhones consistent with the current speed, and it will be able to occupy a leading position in the 5G market next year.
Although Apple is expected to achieve good results in the 5G smartphone market in 2020, Strategy Analytics finally believes that due to Samsung's "dominance in the entire smartphone market" and more affordable prices, Samsung will long become a leader in the 5G market.
At the same time, Huawei is limited by external factors, but it is still expected to become a leader in China's 5G smartphone vendors, occupying more market share in China than Apple.
Apple may, as always, dominate the high-end market, but it will not quickly squeeze the market size of Samsung and Huawei in the short term.
Apple vs Huawei
At present, Huawei has become the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. In August this year, it released its first Huawei Mate20X that supports 5G technology, taking the lead in sounding the competition horn in the 5G market.
According to related news, in the next stage, Huawei will fully develop the 5G market business, increase the total shipments of smartphones to 300 million, and cooperate with partners such as Daliguang and TSMC to sprint.
There is even supply chain news that Hon Hai has already won all OEM orders for Huawei's 5G mobile phones next year. The total order is estimated to exceed 50 million. The continued expansion of outsourced assembly means that Huawei will launch its full force in the 5G mobile phone market next year. attack.
At the same time, Apple will also launch a 5G iPhone series, which will contribute to the 5G market. It is understood that the focus of Apple's iPhone upgrade in 2020 will be on signal issues, and its long-controversial signal shortcomings are expected to make a qualitative breakthrough.
In addition, the president of Qualcomm also mentioned: "Since Qualcomm participated in the work later than expected by both parties, we are already working hard to complete the work. This work has a very high priority and I believe it will be launched as planned 5G phone products, and I hope this is a great device. "
JP Morgan also predicts that Apple's sales will be higher next year, reaching 203 million units and 205 million units in 2021, indicating that the market is very confident about 5G iPhone.
It is worth mentioning that, in the context of domestic manufacturers rushing to launch 5G mobile phones this year, Apple's new iPhone series has not been cold in the market, but has been occupying the forefront in the sales list.
It has to be said that domestic manufacturers' starting advantage in this year's competition with Apple is not as great as expected.
With the further popularization of 5G networks and the further maturity of the related industry chain, the industry also believes that the next wave of 5G mobile phone replacement will usher in. Apple chooses to launch 5G mobile phones at this time and join the market competition, which will undoubtedly bring domestic mobile phone manufacturers Certain impact.
Among them, the biggest concern is the sales dispute between Huawei and Apple.
Earlier, some professionals predicted that Apple and Huawei will monopolize the two major 5G mobile phone markets in the United States and China next year.
Recently, IDC released a research report on the domestic 5G mobile phone market in the third quarter of 2019. The report shows that in the past third quarter, the top six domestic 5G mobile phone sales were: vivo, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, ZTE and China Mobile, of which vivo's overall market share was as high as 54.3%.
At present, Huawei's current market share in China's 5G mobile phones is not high, mainly because the Chinese 5G mobile phone market has first entered the price war stage.
Of course, this situation is also not optimistic for Apple, after all, Apple mobile phone pricing has always been high.
Therefore, in the next year's 5G mobile phone market competition, who will perform better between Huawei and Apple, it is still far from conclusive.
Bottom line
For the time being, Apple's 5G mobile phone released next year can stir up a big splash in the country, but at least to a certain extent, it has become a life-saving straw for the 5G mobile phone market in the United States and other Western countries.
After all, after 2021, the global 5G market will usher in a major reshuffle, and mobile phone manufacturers are making great efforts, and Apple is naturally not far behind.
Although the listing time of 5G iPhone is one year later than other mobile phone brands, many analysts and related organizations are optimistic that 5G iPhone will come later and become the dominant player in 5G market.
