The big picture: Qualcomm has chosen to bundle all sales of its high-end Snapdragon 865 system-on-a-chip with the X55 5G modem, which is reportedly pushing phone manufacturers away from the tradition of using the latest and greatest mobile platform in their new phones. Makers are instead favoring an approach that lets them keep costs down, and by extension lets them avoid increasing phone prices.
When Qualcomm made the peculiar decision to leave out an integrated modem from its Snapdragon 865





