I don’t think anyone in September or October of last year could have

predicted where we would be now. I don’t think Apple has a crystal ball.

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the US, where the iPhone SE will cost more and where Chinese vendors

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QUALCOMM’S MISTAKEN ASSUMPTION

Mobile phones take a while to plan, and this year’s devices were all

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economies, no pandemic. Into that world, Qualcomm launched the

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system requires expensive, proprietary antenna modules as well, further

bumping up prices on that carrier.

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Android phone makers don’t have the option of doing what Apple did

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save money. Qualcomm has less-expensive chipsets available, but phone

makers haven’t picked them up, because they need their phones to look

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Qualcomm and its customers made a bet based on what they thought

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they expected.

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