Schadenfreude
Qualcomm has developed some great technology over the years, but some of its ways of monetizing it have been reprehensible. Glad to see that reprehension is now being applied, by both states and markets.
Qualcomm makes running a top-tier semiconductor business look like hard work. The Snapdragon system-on-chips it designs are used all over the place in smartphones, smart TVs, cars, gadgets, you name it. This should be easy street for Qualy, and yet it's slipping over in the winter ice. Let's go over the numbers first. On …
1) Intel possibly replacing Qualcomm cellular chips in iPhones
2) Samsung probably using more of their own chips and fewer of Qualcomm's in their phones
3) Chinese companies like Mediatek likely taking a bigger share of the non-Samsung Android market
4) the fact the smartphone market has pretty much peaked so there's no organic growth left
Expect to see more patent lawsuits from them - that's usually what happens when sales decline and executives instruct people to look for other sources of revenue - especially if the competition that replaced you is using your patents. For instance, they may have a patent cross licensing agreement with Intel, but if Intel licenses their cellular modem to Apple who includes it in the A10 or A11 SoC then maybe Qualcomm sues Apple if it isn't clear in the cross license agreement with Intel that Intel is allowed to license IP using those patents to others.