I thought it was common knowledge that the Qualcomm modem iPhone 7 performed better than the Intel one. This particular investigation was reported everywhere when it was released: http://cellularinsights.com/iphone7/

I also don't recall ever seeing that Apple claimed Qualcomm and Intel modems were equivalent. Indeed, they never talk at all about components when they're not Apple-designed, like the A-series CPUs. So is Qualcomm's argument that Apple is lying by omission? Seems tenuous.