Hoping to appeal to Apple, Qualcomm lowers licensing cost for 5G patents

After hearing plenty of criticism over the last couple of years about its patent licensing system, Qualcomm announced this morning that it is switching to a different, lower cost licensing model for its 5G products. While aimed at all smartphone manufacturers, the focus is on Apple, which is involved in a number of suits against Qualcomm over patents and royalties. Apple reportedly decided to drop Qualcomm as a modem chip supplier for the 2018 iPhone models, and the San-Diego based chip maker would love to get that business back.

Smartphone producers have two licensing options when dealing ...