Qualcomm loses business
Previous reports had pegged Intel's potential share of the iPhone 7 baseband win would be around 30% to 40%. If DigiTimes' number is correct, then Intel may have actually increased its potential allocation since the last wave of news/analyst reports came in.
This is a clear negative for Qualcomm. Although it generates a lot of revenue from the sale of integrated applications processors and modems to many of Apple's competitors, Qualcomm could previously count on having 100% of the Apple business.
It would seem, however, that this is no longer the case. If Intel can execute in building competitive modems each year, then Apple may very well choose to dual-source cellular modems for future iPhones for the foreseeable future.
In this case, Qualcomm sees a significant reduction in modem sales and a non-trivial reduction in revenue.
The silver lining for Qualcomm, though, is that Intel seems to be out of the mobile applications processor game. Intel didn't have much share in mobile applications processors, but the effective exit by a competitor should nonetheless be welcome. Unfortunately for Qualcomm, though, it still has to contend with the increasingly competitive MediaTek.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/16/intel-corp-reportedly-wins-up-to-50-of-apple-inc-i.aspx
Interesting. Would be INTEL able to deliver on x86 modem, out from German IMC? I doubt. Bets/odds are 1 to 5 (20%).
Time Will Tell!