Apple recently announced that it will be hiring 1200 employees in San Diego over the next three years. For the unaware, San Diego is where Qualcomm is based; a subtle hint at Apple’s intentions to poach Qualcomm employees.
According to a press release, Apple is expected to offer around 200 jobs by the end of 2019. Gradually increasing the number over the next three years until it reaches its goal of 1200 people.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, stated that Apple has been a part of San Diego for almost 20 years through retail presence and small, fast-growing teams. It is due to this long-term presence that Cook believes Apple won’t have to try “too hard to convince people” to jump over to its side.
While it was not specifically mentioned, Apple might steer and direct its newly acquired staff towards its engineering team. Where they could be tasked with developing its in-house 5G modems.
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For context, Apple once used Qualcomm modems exclusively. However, prolonged legal battles between the two forced the former to move forward with Intel’s modems and dropping Qualcomm’s modems straight from its 2018 iPhones.
At the same time, Apple has a tendency designing and manufacturing its own hardware for their devices. Some examples include its A12X Bionic SoC and its own lightning connector port.
(Source: Hot Hardware, The City of San Diego)
