Apple already makes its own processors for the iPhone, but it looks like the company could be nearing a deal that would help it make its own modems in-house too. According to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, Apple is within a week of agreeing to buy Intel’s modem business.
The deal is said to be in advanced talks, and the report notes that it would be valued at $1 billion or more. While Apple often makes smaller deals without any sort of announcement, it’s likely Apple and Intel will make some kind of announcement if the deal does happen.
The deal isn’t necessarily all that surprising. Apple has been known to want to do as much of the designing and manufacturing in-house as possible — an ethos that led it to start building its own processors, which are now largely considered to be the best mobile chips in the world. Apple has also started building its own security chips for Mac computers, with the current-generation called the Apple T2 Security Chip. Eventually, Apple likely hopes to use only Apple-built tech in both the iPhone and Mac range of products.
Apple has had a bit of a rough road to getting 5G modems for the iPhone. The company had a long and difficult court battle with Qualcomm over license fees and patents, leading it to make a deal with Intel for modems. Intel, however, reportedly had a tough time developing its own mobile 5G modems — and as a result Apple and Qualcomm eventually patched things up and agreed to a six-year license agreement for modems. It’s unclear whether Apple is required to use Qualcomm modems as part of that agreement but as a result of the deal, Intel announced that it would be exiting the 5G modem business.
According to some reports, after the Apple-Qualcomm deal, Intel began looking for a buyer for its vast portfolio of modem-related patents and staff, and Apple as a buyer makes a lot of sense. Apple was reportedly already working on building its own modems, and will presumably phase out Qualcomm modems in favor of its own once it has developed the modems enough to be ready for the mainstream.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.