Does Apple’s Ericsson deal make an Apple 5G more plausible?

Apple didn’t just get into 5G with iPhone, it got into networking tech

In a move that may yet turn out to be an important step forward in terms of Apple’s attempt to build its own 5G modems for iPhones, Ericsson has confirmed a patent licensing deal with Apple.

New deal includes technology ‘collaboration’

The agreement settles years of intermittent wrangling between both firms and also includes a “cross-license relating for patented cellular standard-essential technologies and grants certain other patent rights.”

“Furthermore, Ericsson and Apple have mutually agreed to strengthen their technology and business collaboration, including in technology, interoperability and standards development,” Ericsson said in a press release.

Ericsson has been a leading contributor to 3GPP and to the development of global mobile standards. It holds over 60,000 patents for these technologies, so it is likely that if you are using any device at all that’s on a mobile network there’s a little bit of Ericsson in there.

The company admitted that it is, “confident of growing its IPR revenues with new 5G agreements and by expanding into other licensing areas long term.”

Deal is of strategic importance

That focus on 5G was also confirmed by Christina Petersson, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson, who said: “We are pleased to settle the litigations with Apple with this agreement, which is of strategic importance to our 5G licensing program. This will allow both companies to continue to focus on bringing the best technology to the global market.”

Now I could be and probably am reading too much into this, but given this settlement should give Apple access to Ericsson’s 5G tech (and more collaboration between both firms), it may have some impact on Apple’s own 5G work.

Apple has been engaged in building its own 5G modems for years.

To that end it reached a huge deal with Qualcomm so it could put 5G in iPhones and purchased Intel’s mobile division for a billion dollars or so. In other words, Apple is seriously committed to delivering its own proprietary 5G modem.

What might this mean?

Earlier this year we heard that Apple’s work on that project had hit some stumbling blocks. Is it possible these included the ongoing litigation with Ericsson? Now that this settlement has been reached, might those hurdles have shrunk a little more? The technology collaboration reference suggests it may have done so. One thing we do already know is that these important components are unlikely to be made in China – earlier this year we learned they may be manufactured in Thailand.

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