William Gallagher
Modified iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models are to go back on sale in Germany using Qualcomm modems instead of Intel, to avoid a ban in the country as part of an ongoing worldwide legal battle between Qualcomm and Apple.
Apple has announced that it will resume selling the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in Germany and will do so using only Qualcomm processors instead of the Intel ones previously used. It said it had "no choice" but to do this following a Munich court's decision to ban sales of these models over a patent infringement case that Qualcomm won in December 2018.
The patent dispute is part of a larger legal battle between Qualcomm and Apple which continues worldwide. This particular case centered on Qualcomm's claim that its patents for modems were being infringed by an Apple supplier Qorvo Inc. While Qualcomm does not claim that Intel has infringed patents, the Qorvo chip was solely used in older iPhones that used Intel's modems.
An iPhone 8 in an Apple StoreAccording to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Qorvo has claimed it is not infringing on Qualcomm's patents. During the trial, Qualcomm refused to sign a confidentiality clause, leading Qorvo to refusing to argue the case for fear of divulging trade secrets.
Apple and Qualcomm are due to face each other in US courts in April over Apple's claims that the modem chip maker has used illegal patent licensing practices. In announcing the resumption of iPhone 7 and 8 sales, Apple told Reuters that: "Qualcomm is attempting to use injunctions against our products to try to get Apple to succumb to their extortionist demands."
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3 Comments
The judge should have compelled Qualcomm to sign the confidentiality agreement or lose first case. Companies should not be allowed to win when the accused can't show their evidence die to the accuser not agreeing to confidentiality.
Apple doesn‘t care about its customers anymore...instead of sending billions to its shareholders by the way of senseless stock buybacks it should at a minimum make its products available internationally....HomePods, AppleWatch ECG and eSim versions of the AppleWatch are still a no show in many , many markets including countries like Austria. The company is clearly loosing its focus and shine but continues to excel in ripping off its customers. In India the company is a no show, in China it is pricing itself out of the market...and the company is not putting the money into R&D where it is already ouspent by Huawei...no, it puts most of its money into buybacks of stock...if even dangerously levered up its balance sheet by $100bn in order to influence its stock price and „fake“ EPS number..we customers do not care about stock market statistics Mr Cook!...we care about the company!....the future of Apple indeed looks bleak if you continue this road to disaster! Focus on your customers not your shareholders!