Qualcomm's problem is that cellular modems are becoming a commodity. The quality of the modem matters less with each generation, so you see stupid stuff like Qualcomm claiming its X65 generation of modem is better than X60 because it supports 10 Gbps 5G instead of 7.5 Gbps 5G!
Obviously none of us will ever see numbers close to that, just like we never did with the theoretical speeds of 3G and LTE before it, but we're at the point now where no cares about getting faster potential LTE or 5G speeds at this point. Any problems we have with cellular performance has to do with the carrier, and where they have sited their towers versus where we want to be when using cellular.
I'm sure when Apple introduces phones using their own modems Qualcomm will try to paint that as bad for customers, since they won't be as good as Qualcomm's (oh no, maybe they'll only be capable of 5 Gbps!) Their problem is, no one will care. They also have formerly low/midrange only competitors like Mediatek competing with them toe to toe on the high end, Samsung looking to expand their use of Exynos beyond some of their own phones to third parties, etc.
They know they need to come up with a compelling reason for smartphone OEMs to pay a premium for "Qualcomm inside", or they risk the 35% of their revenue that's from patent licensing becoming a majority, and eventually sliding into irrelevance as far as consumers are concerned as an IP only company.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
