Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes reported Monday that Qualcomm is in talks with Apple "for interest in future cooperation," claims "market sources." The report said that Qualcomm is concerned about its future, because popular smartphones including the iPhone do not utilize its 3G handset chips. Currently the iPhone uses the Infineon chipset.
In November, two reports said that a Qualcomm-.powered iPhone was in the works. One report suggested the device would use a new hybrid chip, to allow compatibility with both AT&T and Verizon networks in the U.S. Another analyst said that he had heard the deal between Apple and Qualcomm is in the works, a dual mode iPhone would be impossible to release in 2010 and if there was one, it would arrive in 2011 at the earliest.
Ashok Kumar an analyst for Northease Securities, recently told AppleInsider that he believes Verizon and Apple would like to release a CDMA handset at $99, which would make the new dual-mode chip unlikely. Qualcomm expects to launch handsets based on the dual-mode chip in the later half of 2010.
