Apple to address Chinese iPhone ban with software update

After a Chinese court issued a preliminary injunction against certain iPhones for infringing on Qualcomm patents, Apple on Friday said it plans to resolve the issue with a software update expected for release next week.

In a statement issued to Reuters, Apple said an update will roll out next week "to address any possible concern about our compliance with the order" handed down by Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court in China this week.

"Based on the iPhone models we offer today in China, we believe we are in compliance," Apple said. "Early next week we will deliver a software update for iPhone users in China addressing the minor functionality of the two patents at issue in the case."

Qualcomm earlier this week said it won a preliminary injunction against certain iPhone models — iPhone 6s through iPhone X — that shipped with iOS 11. The company successfully argued Apple's previous-generation mobile operating system violates owned IP covering resizing photographs and app management on a touch screen.

The chipmaker intends to leverage the same patents against Apple's latest iPhone XS and XR, but Apple contends the IP does not apply to iPhones running iOS 12.

Details of Apple's iPhone update are not yet available. It can be presumed that Apple will provide customers a path to upgrade to a more recent version of iOS, one that does not incorporate infringing technology. Whether users will be forced to download the update is not clear.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While the court sided with Qualcomm, enforcement of the iPhone ban requires time. In a statement to AppleInsider earlier this week, Apple said all iPhone models remain up for sale in China following the court decision.

"Qualcomm's effort to ban our products is another desperate move by a company whose illegal practices are under investigation by regulators around the world," Apple said. "We will pursue all our legal options through the courts."

To that end, Apple filed a request for reconsideration with the Chinese court, a move that will further stall the pending injunction.

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19 Comments

fred stein 78 comments · 11 Years

About 5 years ago

Ha!. I'll bet this stimulates purchases of earlier models to either buy before you can't, or preparing for a grey market phone if they become scarce due to a ban.

If the ban does go into effect, buyers of XS, XS Max, and XR get better resale value for their older phones.

Or, the whole thing blows over.

Meanwhile, Apple buys back AAPL which earns more that 2X a ten year t-bill.

JFC_PA 947 comments · 7 Years

Well, if the disputed code is no longer in the phones the issue is moot. Far easier than hardware.

radarthekat 3901 comments · 12 Years

JFC_PA said:

Well, if the disputed code is no longer in the phones the issue is moot. Far easier than hardware.

Exactly. Worse case a completely different method of implementing the features could be implemented for that market. For example, and this is only for illustrative purposes (I don’t know the specifics of the actually allegedly infringing functionality), let’s say that Qualcomm holds a patent on the jiggling icons you see when you long press an icon on the home page, and further that Qualcomm holds a parent on the drag and drop process for re-arranging those icons on screen and between pages. Apple could simply stop the jiggling and make the icons pulse, for example. It could then implement a means of tapping an icon to give focus, then tapping another to indicate the target for the move. Done and done. Ship it!

wonkothesane 1735 comments · 12 Years

*poof*, there goes Mollenkopf’s weak attempt to get the brownie.

gatorguy 24597 comments · 13 Years

fred stein said:

Meanwhile, Apple buys back AAPL which earns more that 2X a ten year t-bill.

It doesn't directly earn Apple anything when they buy back stock. It has no book value once they do so.