Don't think apple making a modem is any challenge to Qualcomm . Its probably easier to throw money at lawyers , media and politicians and get results you want but a whole different story to be competitive in modem in a reasonable timeframe. And even then they still will likely need to pay royalties if qcom wins the anti trust cases. It's great for us engineers though to have demand for talent in the marketplace . At least while it lasts.
Maybe a little off topic, given that it doesn’t have a lot to do with layoffs, but definitely an on-point post by @Yg2CblX-1lic