The conflict between Apple and Qualcomm was on hand Intel, which thanks to this judicial confrontation will get more orders from the “Apple” giant.
In the first iPhone, which debuted in 2007, used modems Infineon Technologies. Later Intel bought Infineon a business to produce wireless chipsets, but the chip maker was unable to obtain orders from the manufacturer iPhone and iPad, as the latter gave preference to Qualcomm. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus Corporation of Cupertino used exclusively baseband chip of Qualcomm.
Last year, Intel received about 30% of orders for the supply of modems for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The cost of these chips was lower than Qualcomm, but the performance was not in favor of Intel products, so it was rumored that Apple will give up cooperation with Intel. However, between Apple and Qualcomm sparked a dispute over royalties for patents.
In 2017, Apple increased its share of orders for the supply of cellular modems Intel for the iPhone 8 to 50%. Moreover, by 2018 the figure may exceed 70%. Such data are cited by Digitimes, citing sources in the supply chain.
In addition to new chips, Qualcomm is a very important business related to the sale of rights to use patents of the company. Due to the fact that more and more it giants have begun to invest in creating its own processors, while China, South Korea and other countries launched investigations about the legality of license fees to Qualcomm, the company’s dominance in the mobile chip market in recent years is under threat.
In January Apple has filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm, accusing it of abuse of market dominance. According to the plaintiff, as the largest chip maker, the company has established a “bonded” terms for licensing its patents and gave Apple the opportunity to choose another vendor’s chips. The amount of the claim amounted to $1 billion.
In April, Qualcomm filed a counterclaim to Apple, in turn, accusing the company that it is violating the agreements and arrangements with Qualcomm agreements with third-party companies, Qualcomm is pursuing with the help of regulators in different countries, as well as “not use full performance of chips from Qualcomm in the new iPhone 7”.
In may 2017 Qualcomm has filed a lawsuit against Apple manufacturing partners, accusing them of refusing to pay royalties for using its technology.
