Qualcomm has renewed its global patent license agreement with Apple, with the new deal taking effect April 1, 2027. Neither company has shared how long the agreement runs or what the financial terms are.
Qualcomm announced the renewal in a short press release that includes one quote from John Han, the executive vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Technology Licensing. He said the company is pleased to extend the Apple license agreement. Apple has not made an announcement of its own.
The Renewal Starts the Day After the Current Deal Ends
The licensing relationship dates back to April 2019, when Apple and Qualcomm settled years of litigation and signed a six-year global patent license. That deal included an option to extend it by two years, which Apple exercised in 2024, and it pushed the end date to the last day of March 2027. The renewal picks up on April 1.
The patent license is separate from the chip supply agreement between the two companies. The license gives Apple the right to use Qualcomm’s patented technology in devices that connect to cellular networks, while the supply agreement covers the modem chips Qualcomm sells to Apple.
To sum it up, the patent license is being renewed, effective April 1, 2027, with terms not disclosed. With regards to the chip supply agreement, Qualcomm announced in 2023 that it would supply modems for Apple smartphone launches in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and no renewal has been announced.
Apple Keeps Moving to Its Own Modems
Apple introduced its first in-house cellular modem, the C1, in the iPhone 16e, and it has been following Apple’s own 5G modem plans ever since. The second-generation C2 modem is now in the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone Duo worldwide, and in the iPhone 18 Pro Max everywhere except the US.
The US iPhone 18 Pro Max still uses a Qualcomm modem, according to Apple’s spec pages and a teardown. Apple has not explained the difference, and some observers point to the 2023 supply agreement as a possible reason, though that is speculation.
The license is still important, because any modem that talks to carrier networks relies on standardized cellular technologies, and Qualcomm holds patents essential to those standards. An Apple-designed modem still has to follow those standards, so Apple needs Qualcomm’s patent license even when the chip inside the phone is its own. That is why the two agreements can move in different directions.
What iPhone Buyers Should Expect
The renewal is unlikely to change anything for people buying an iPhone, since it does not affect pricing, features or which modem sits in a given model. Apple can keep using whatever mix of Apple-designed and Qualcomm chips works best for each device.
The terms of the new agreement, including its length, were not disclosed in the announcement.
