SAN DIEGO, Sept. 25 -- Apple spent six years building its own cellular modem to reduce its dependence on Qualcomm. On Wednesday, it renewed the licensing agreement that proves the job is not finished.

The clarification is structural. Qualcomm Technology Licensing, which generated $1.3 billion in revenue last quarter, collects royalties on the wireless standards themselves, not on Qualcomm chips. Apple's C1 and C2 modems displaced Qualcomm hardware from most of the iPhone lineup, but every phone that uses a cellular network, regardless of whose modem is inside, remains subject to Qualcomm's claims on 5G standards-essential patents. Building your own modem reduces the chip bill. It does not reduce the patent bill.

Qualcomm announced the r...