qualcomm

Hey, Obama, Romney, there's a lot of U.S. stuff in the iPhone 5

Apple's iPhone and iPad have emerged as poster children for the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs.

Can't Apple make the MacBook, iPad, and iPhone in the U.S.? -- was the plea posed as a question by the CNN moderator Tuesday night -- with both Obama and Romney providing answers relatively lacking in nuance.

So, I decided to ask a different question to IHS iSuppli: How of much the stuff inside the iPhone 5 is provided by U.S. companies -- regardless of where it's made. That's a fair question since focusing on where something's … Read more

Qualcomm nabs Microsoft's CES keynote slot

The company lucky enough to nab Microsoft's keynote spot at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show is ... Qualcomm.

Paul Jacobs, chief executive of the wireless chip giant, will give the coveted pre-show keynote at CES, filling the slot Microsoft vacated late last year. Jacobs, who also gave keynotes at the 2012 and 2010 shows, will speak at 6:30 p.m. PT on January 7. The show officially runs January 8-11.

Qualcomm may not be the most obvious pick for the CES keynote, but its selection is the latest sign of a shift within the technology industry. PCs have been … Read more

Tech giants to talk patent reform at the U.N.

Apple, Google, Microsoft and other tech giants are meeting in Switzerland today to discuss patent litigation reform, seeking to find ways to protect their intellectual property without hurting innovation.

The roundtable, hosted by the U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union in its Geneva headquarters, will cover topics such as "potential improvements to existing policy frameworks, entitlement to injunctive reliefs, and definitions of what constitutes a royalty base."

The group hopes to find out how standard essential patents can be enforced without hindering competition and how to make sure licenses can be offered at reasonable terms.

"We are … Read more

iPhone 5 reveals Qualcomm, SanDisk as big winners

Apple is sticking with most of its component providers for the latest iPhone, an IHS iSuppli teardown shows, but it has made some "critical changes" and updated most chips.

A physical teardown by IHS, released today, shows Apple is using parts from many of the usual suspects -- Samsung, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Murata, Dialog, Texas Instruments, STMicro, Cirrus Logic, Avago, Skyworks, NXP and AKM.

But it also has made some additions, like flash memory maker SanDisk, and almost every component has been updated. And IHS' supplier list indicates a reduced reliance on Samsung, the chip and handset maker that … Read more

LG to bring the mobile thunder September 19

Hot off the heels of Motorola, Nokia, and Apple's phone press conferences, LG will host its own spectacle set for September 19 in New York. LG will also team up with chipmaker Qualcomm to put on the show and flamboyantly invites us to, "Live without boundaries." … Read more

Apple, Qualcomm reportedly tried to buy exclusive TSMC favor

Apple and Qualcomm reportedly tried to secure exclusive access to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. smartphone chips by making separate investment offers in the custom chip maker in excess of $1 billion.

The cash would have assured the investors that production would have been reserved for their products, but both bids were rejected, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The two companies were trying secure manufacturing resources to satisfy increasing demand for smartphones, a market Bloomberg Industries estimates to be worth $219 billion.

CNET contacted Apple and Qualcomm for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

TSMC, … Read more

LG teases latest quad-core superphone in video

LG hopes its next flagship smartphone will get the company back into the handset game after its disappointing run of late.

The company released a video today, teasing a smartphone with "the second generation" of quad-core processors, or Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 chip with an Adreno 320 graphics processor. The clip, which is in Korean, was first spotted by The Verge.

The phone is rumored to be packed with top-line specifications beyond the processor: from a higher end camera to more RAM and a better display. It's also expected to run on the 4G LTE network.

The … Read more

Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro to power LG quad-core device

Qualcomm announced today that a yet-to-be-unveiled LG quad-core phone will be powered by its own Snapdragon S4 Pro.

Though the company told CNET that it can't comment on the device until LG makes its an official announcement, it did say that the handset is "currently in production" and will be sold in Korea in September. It will launch globally sometime afterward.

Despite how little there is to know about the handset, we're excited nonetheless. And if it's going to be anything like LG's first quad-core phone, the LG 4X HD, it'll be sure … Read more

Apple v. Samsung: Tech firms want trade secrets protected

Some of the largest tech firms want the country's court system to hush up when it comes to their trade secrets.

Apple, Samsung, Intel, and Qualcomm are fighting to keep their trade secrets from spilling out into public view as part of the Apple v. Samsung patent trial.

The most recent example came this afternoon when Qualcomm filed papers opposing attempts by Reuters news service to unseal documents in the case, including details about licensing agreements Qualcomm entered with at least one of the litigants. Earlier, Samsung lawyers tried to get an Apple executive to open up about the unreleased iPhone 5. … Read more