Welcome to the Tech Meme Ride Home for Tuesday, July 23rd, 2019. Today Apple may buy Intel's floundering 5G chip division.

New rumored iPhone models seem like modest bumps. The attorney general dreams

of an impossible encryption backdoor, a Facebook design flaw

potentially exposed children to strangers, the NSA consolidates cyber security, Uber

tests an all-in-one subscription plan, a suit against AT&T over a

cryptocurrency theft and proceed, and Winking-face Moneybag 100% you should use emoji at work.

I'm Glenn Fleischman in for Brian McCullough,

and here's what you missed in the world of tech today.

Apple is reportedly in talks to purchase Intel's smartphone modem chip division, an expected

move after Apple suddenly settled its ongoing dispute over royalties and patents with

cellular chip-making pacemaker, Qualcomm in April.

The Intel deal could top a billion dollars in cover acquiring staff, technology, and patents,

according to sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.

Intel had capitalized on the Apple Qualcomm suit as the only company that could potentially

provide the chips for new 5G networks that Apple would need to remain competitive.

However, as soon as Apple and Qualcomm buried the hatchet, Intel announced it would exit the 5G smartphone modem business and figure out its mobile chip future.

Apple Inced a six-year licensing agreement and a chip purchase deal with Qualcomm so this Intel acquisition

would be part of the long game that Apple has played so well. The journal says Intel is losing

about a billion dollars a year on its smartphone division.

It would continue to work on 5G connectivity for other categories of devices like laptops.

Analysts suggested Apple's settlement with Qualcomm was intended to force a deal. Anshell Sogg, consumer and chip tech analysts at more insights and strategy,

tweeted, as predicted by me what feels like eons ago,

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