Apple digs in couch cushions, finds $4.5 billion for a grateful Qualcomm

When Apple and Qualcomm unexpectedly settled their long-standing legal feud on the day opening arguments were supposed to begin in court, the companies did not disclose the amount that Apple was paying Qualcomm to end their war once and for all.

Now, thanks to Qualcomm's Q2 earnings report, we know that Qualcomm expects to get $4.5 - $4.7 billion from the settlement — a financial boon for Qualcomm, that costs cash-rich Apple relatively little.

Apple and Qualcomm had been engaging in a tit-for-tat fight in the courts over what Apple argued were exorbitant royalties that Qualcomm was charging Apple for the use of its chip technology, on top of the price of the actual chips. In a surprise settlement, The companies agreed to end all legal action, worldwide, on April 16. The settlement included a six year licensing agreement, "multi-year" chip supply, and a cash payment from Apple, the amount of which the companies did not specify.

Qualcomm's Q2 earnings report gives us an idea of the price Apple is paying for peace — and its 5G future. Qualcomm's released its Q2 earnings report Wednesday, which included projected one-time cash revenue of $4.5 - $4.7 billion from the Apple settlement. Qualcomm says that figure is not set in stone, since it includes cash payment as well as the release of money that Qualcomm has to pay Apple. But it is reporting the number as revenue, or cash, that it expects to receive from Apple.

"While we continue to assess the accounting impacts of the agreements, our financial guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 includes estimated revenues of $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion resulting from the settlement (which will be excluded from our Non-GAAP results), consisting of a payment from Apple and the release of our obligations to pay or refund Apple and the contract manufacturers certain customer-related liabilities," the report reads.

This is pretty dang huge for Qualcomm. Last quarter, Qualcomm earned $5 billion in revenue. The settlement effectively doubles their earnings for Q3. $4.5 billion is big money for Qualcomm.

So what's it costing Apple? The settlement shows that, among tech giants, the word "billions" is relative. Even in a down quarter, Apple still made $225.4 billion in cash in Q2. That means that, even if the majority of the ~$4.7 sent to Qualcomm is cash direct from Apple, that's about 2 percent of its quarterly revenue. Think Tim can spare it?

Qualcomm's earnings report also indicates that the licensing agreement might not have been as big a win for the company as the cash payment. Although revenue for Q3 is expected to double from 2018, the New York Times points out that the projections indicate that Apple is not necessarily paying more in licensing than it was before.

While we can't say for sure, perhaps Qualcomm made out with cash in the short term, so Apple could get chip supply and licensing agreements for its 5G iPhones that it could live with. After all, Apple's projected revenue for Q3 was pretty much unaffected by the loss of that five bil. Must be nice!