Broadcom got out of the cellular modem business just in time, it seems. The chip provider’s brief and ill-advised flirtation with Qualcomm’s heartland product dragged it down last year, but in the first quarter of 2015, it looked set for a return to solid growth – just as Qualcomm itself slashed $1bn off its full-year revenue outlook, citing various pressures in the smartphone market. Many of these pressures are Qualcomm-specific – Chinese and IEEE challenges to its licensing model, falling sales to Samsung – and indeed, Broadcom, ARM and others were still riding on smartphone growth in Q115. However, Qualcomm also pointed out some trends which will affect the whole sector – the shift to lower cost smartphones, the consolidation…