Tech news on December 9: According to media reports, Apple has been developing its own 5G baseband to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm, and the iPhone SE 4 expected to be launched next year will be the first to feature Apple's self-developed baseband chip.

Regarding this, analysts have pointed out that Qualcomm, as a 5G baseband manufacturer, has the ability to deal a significant blow to Apple by cutting off its supply in advance, even though this would not be beneficial to Qualcomm itself.

Apple's current licensing agreement with Qualcomm will continue until March 2027. Technology analyst Patrick Moorhead stated that if Qualcomm cuts off its supply to Apple now, Apple's stock price may plummet.

However, he also noted that Qualcomm might use this opportunity to generate significant revenue from Apple.

According to a "bill of materials" analysis, Qualcomm could potentially earn approximately $2.52 billion in revenue from Apple solely from 5G modem sales, and this figure is only for the iPhone 16 series.

Qualcomm's baseband chips are also used in previous generations of iPhones and iPads sold globally, potentially generating even higher total revenue.

Apple's self-developed 5G baseband plan will begin with the iPhone SE 4, aiming to bring millimeter-wave support to future iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models and exploring the integration of cellular mobile networks into Macs. It may also be adopted in future Apple Vision Pro models.