Apple is having trouble producing this kind of chip again

Fifth, there are software bottlenecks. There are also reports that one of the major obstacles Apple faces in developing baseband chips is the software that powers the chips, some of which was acquired from Intel. People involved in the project said Intel's code was not up to the task and much of it had to be rewritten from scratch. When Apple engineers try to add new features, existing ones will be broken and the chip won't work properly.

To sum up, making baseband chips means burning money, and more than just a little bit.

In fact, looking at the entire baseband development history, it very much follows the basic logic of the chip industry.

Especially in the 4G era, baseband chip giants gathered, including Texas Instruments, NVIDIA, Marvell, Freescale, Broadcom, ADI and other companies, and then gradually withdrew from the stage of history.

This is because when a chip technology is in its early stages of development, the market is exploring new development options. At that time, chip companies with strong financial resources will invest money in this market if they want to expand their business, thus showing a hundred flowers blooming. situation. 

As the technology gradually matures, the patent wall becomes thicker and thicker, and giants with extremely rich technical capabilities and experience monopolize the market. The latecomers may be seized by competitors after just one decision-making mistake or delay in listing, and they will continue to fall into passivity. situation, so there will be fewer and fewer players; on the other hand, chip manufacturers with poor market conditions will sell or cut off some businesses in order to make their business more sustainable, eventually forming 2~3 in the specific chip field. The situation of oligopolistic competition. To put it bluntly, no one will stick to a business that cannot be done by an oligarch and is not profitable.

Therefore, Intel, which is strong and holds Infineon's wireless business, has to give up the baseband chip cake. Now, the problem Apple faces is not a problem that can be solved by a team with rich skills or hard work, but a high initial investment and a long research and development cycle. From this point of view, it is not that easy to make money for self-research.

Of course, Huawei appears even more powerful in comparison. It invests hundreds of billions in R&D every year and can top 5G baseband and patents. This really shows that Huawei is not easy. In addition, domestic Unisoc, Aojie Technology, and Dongxin Communications are also constantly making breakthroughs in baseband technology. 

Apple’s dream of self-developed basebands continues. In the past, Apple relied on the Lightning interface to earn a lot of licensing fees, and since then, it has relied on A-series and M-series chips to make its ecosystem more complete. It is conceivable that Apple will not give up on self-developed baseband chips so easily, but it still has a long way to go until it hits a wall.