Qualcomm's been in hot water ever since the beginning of 2017 when Apple issued an antitrust lawsuit against the company, and the battle between the two has been playing out ever since. In the most recent development, Qualcomm is now filing a lawsuit against Apple with the intent of having all iPhone production and sales halted in China.
Although China isn't Apple's most profitable country for iPhone sales, it is where the majority of the devices are manufactured. Qualcomm filed the suit claiming that Apple infringed on patents from the chip-maker, and according to Qualcomm spokeswoman, Christine Trimble, "Apple employs technologies invented by Qualcomm without paying for them."
There are three patents in question that Apple supposedly infringed on, with the biggest having to do with the technology used for Force Touch on all iPhone models since the 6S (minus the iPhone SE). Talking about these patents, Trimble says they are "examples of the many Qualcomm technologies that Apple uses to improve its devices and increase its profits."
Qualcomm officially filed for this lawsuit against Apple on September 29, but the Beijing court in which it was issued has not yet made the exact details available to the public.
"Apple employes technologies invented by Qualcomm without paying for them."
Just a day before this latest news broke, it was revealed that Qualcomm was charged with (and appealing) a $773 million USD fine from the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission.
Qualcomm says the $773 million fine won't affect the company and earlier this year, Apple came out victorious over two patent disagreements.
The halt of sales and production of the iPhone in China could prove to be disastrous for Apple, so it'll be fascinating to see what happens next.
Where did all of this Qualcomm hate come from?
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