Apple vs Qualcomm: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Apple and Qualcomm side by side

1. 1976Apple

   Apple is founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, turning an early personal-computer board into a company with a product and a market.

   Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple in 1976, when personal computing was still a hobbyist market.

2. 1977Apple

   The Apple II launches and gives the young company an expandable personal computer for schools, homes, and small businesses.

   The Apple II turned a garage project into a business. Color graphics, expansion slots and a consumer-friendly design carried it into schools, homes and small offices, giving Apple a revenue base years before the Macintosh.

3. 1980Apple

   Apple completes its initial public offering in December 1980, raising capital and turning personal computing into a public-market story.

   The December 1980 IPO gave Apple public-market capital and made personal computing look like a serious commercial category. It also raised the pressure to professionalize management, distribution and product planning as the company outgrew its founding team.

4. 1984Apple

   The Macintosh introduces a graphical interface and mouse-driven computing to a broad audience at a $2,495 launch price.

   The Macintosh brought a graphical interface and a mouse to a mass-market computer and defined Apple's design identity.

5. 1985Qualcomm

   Qualcomm Founded

   Irwin Jacobs, Andrew Viterbi, and five colleagues found Qualcomm Incorporated in San Diego, California, initially operating as a telecommunications consulting and research firm from a converted restaurant building.

6. 1988Qualcomm

   OmniTRACS Commercial Launch

   Qualcomm commercially launches OmniTRACS, a satellite-based two-way messaging and positioning system for long-haul trucking that becomes the company's first profitable product and funds ongoing CDMA research.

7. 1989Qualcomm

   First Live CDMA Demonstration

   Qualcomm conducts its first outdoor live CDMA demonstration in San Diego, proving the technology works in real-world conditions and attracting serious attention from U.S. Cellular carriers and equipment manufacturers.

8. 1991Qualcomm

   Initial Public Offering

   Qualcomm goes public on the Nasdaq Stock Market in December 1991, raising approximately $43 million at $16 per share in an IPO that gives the company capital to accelerate CDMA commercialization.

9. 1993Qualcomm

   IS-95 CDMA Standard Adopted

   The Telecommunications Industry Association formally adopts IS-95, a CDMA standard based substantially on Qualcomm's technology, as an approved digital cellular standard in the United States validating the company's decade-long technological bet.

10. 1995Qualcomm

    First Commercial CDMA Network Launched

    Sprint PCS launches the first commercial CDMA cellular network in the United States, using Qualcomm-based technology and marking the beginning of large-scale commercial deployment that would define U.S. Wireless infrastructure for the next twenty years.

11. 1997Apple

    Apple completes the NeXT acquisition, bringing Steve Jobs back and supplying the operating-system foundation for the years that followed.

    Apple's NeXT acquisition brought Steve Jobs back when the company was financially weak and unfocused.

12. 1999Qualcomm

    Strategic Exit from Infrastructure and Handsets

    Qualcomm sells its network infrastructure division to Ericsson and its handset manufacturing business to Kyocera, focusing the company entirely on chip design and patent licensing a strategic concentration that defines its business model to the present day.

13. 2001Apple

    Apple introduces the iPod on October 23, 2001, a 5GB music player priced at $399 that held about 1,000 songs.

    The iPod put a hard-drive music library in a pocket at $399 and went on sale on November 10, 2001.

14. 2007Apple

    The iPhone is introduced as a phone, widescreen iPod, and internet communicator, moving Apple into the center of mobile computing.

    The iPhone moved Apple into mobile computing and shifted the company's center of gravity away from the Mac. It also created the hardware base that later supported services, accessories and developer economics.

15. 2007Qualcomm

    Snapdragon Platform Introduction

    Qualcomm introduces the Snapdragon brand for its mobile system-on-chip processors, establishing a consumer-facing identity for its mobile silicon that would become synonymous with premium Android smartphone performance over the following decade.

16. 2008Apple

    The App Store opens with 500 apps, creating a controlled software marketplace that becomes a major Services pillar.

    The App Store launched with 500 apps and gave iPhone owners a single, controlled way to install third-party software.

17. 2011Apple

    Tim Cook becomes chief executive on August 24, 2011, after Steve Jobs resigns and the board names Cook to succeed him.

    Apple's board named Tim Cook chief executive on August 24, 2011, when Steve Jobs resigned and recommended the succession plan be carried out.

18. 2014Apple

    Apple agrees to acquire Beats Music and Beats Electronics for $3 billion, its largest deal.

    Apple agreed to buy Beats Music and Beats Electronics for a total of $3 billion, about $2.6 billion in purchase price plus roughly $400 million vesting over time, and brought in founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre.

19. 2019Qualcomm

    Apple Settlement and Licensing Agreement

    Following years of contentious litigation, Qualcomm and Apple reach a global settlement in April 2019 covering all pending litigation worldwide, with Apple agreeing to a multi-year chip supply deal and a licensing arrangement reportedly involving back payments…

20. 2020Apple

    Apple announces the Mac transition to Apple silicon, deepening control over performance, power efficiency, and software optimization.

    Apple began moving Mac computers off Intel processors and onto its own M-series chips in 2020.

21. 2021Qualcomm

    Nuvia Acquisition

    Qualcomm acquires Nuvia, a CPU startup founded by former Apple Silicon architects, for approximately $1.4 billion, bringing custom CPU design capabilities in-house that power the Oryon cores in Snapdragon 8 Elite and Snapdragon X Elite PC chips.

22. 2023Qualcomm

    Snapdragon X Elite PC Platform Launch

    Qualcomm launches the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus platforms for Windows PCs, powering Microsoft's Copilot+ PC initiative and marking the company's most significant push into personal computing since the failed Snapdragon 835 PC effort in 2017.

23. 2024Apple

    Vision Pro launches at $3,499 and gives Apple a shipping platform for spatial interfaces, sensors, and custom silicon.

    Vision Pro gave Apple a live platform for spatial interfaces, eye and hand input, high-resolution displays and custom chips.

24. 2024Qualcomm

    Snapdragon 8 Elite Launch

    Qualcomm launches the Snapdragon 8 Elite, its first phone chip with custom Oryon CPU cores, built on TSMC's 3nm process.

25. 2025Qualcomm

    Alphawave Semi Acquisition Completed

    Qualcomm completes its roughly $2.4B purchase of Alphawave Semi to accelerate data center connectivity products.

26. 2026Apple

    John Ternus becomes chief executive on September 1, 2026, and Tim Cook becomes executive chairman.

    John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, became chief executive on September 1, 2026, and Tim Cook became executive chairman after 15 years as CEO.

27. 2026Qualcomm

    Q2 FY2026 Results and $20B Buyback Authorization

    Qualcomm reports Q2 FY2026 revenue of $10.599B, record quarterly QCT automotive revenue, 20% year-over-year growth in combined QCT automotive and IoT revenue, and a new $20B repurchase authorization.

28. 2026Qualcomm

    Q3 FY2026 Results and $40B Non-Handset Target

    Qualcomm reports Q3 FY2026 revenue of $9.9B (down 4%), automotive revenue up 61% to $1.6B, and raises its FY2029 non-handset revenue target to $40B.

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