The iPhone maker Apple and the chip maker Qualcomm have recently settled their long-running intellectual-property quarrel over cellular technologies, which includes a payment from the former to the latter, and we now have our first look at the size of the legal agreement.
In order to mitigate risk and improve its bargaining power with suppliers, Apple will purchase some of the 5G modems for its 2020 iPhone from rival Samsung, too.
Apple’s recently-announced settlement with Qualcomm didn’t come cheap, according to UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri. In a research note released Thursday, Arcuri said the iPhone-maker likely paid between $5 and $6 billion to put a stop to the bevy of legal battles between the two companies.
Hot on the heels of the settlement news between Apple and Qualcomm, Intel has announced that it is exiting the 5G smartphone modem business. In a press release late Tuesday afternoon, the company said it sees “no clear path to profitability” in the space.
Apple and Qualcomm have reached a settlement in their ongoing royalty dispute. The two companies issued a press release Tuesday afternoon, stating that they will drop all litigation and enter a six-year licensing agreement, effective as of the beginning of this month.
Following the iPhone injunction that Qualcomm secured in Germany, Apple’s pulled the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models from its own stores and third-party resellers in the country.
The chip maker might be prepping to extend iPhone sales ban to the latest XS and XR models while prohibiting sales of the Apple handset at German carriers and third-party resellers.
After a German court concluded that Apple is in violation of a Qualcomm hardware patent, Apple said it would pull some iPhone models from its own stores in the country.
Apple’s acknowledged that the iPhone-exclusive iOS 12.1.2 software update has indeed circumvented a pair of Qualcomm patents, despite Qualcomm’s claims to the contrary.
Qualcomm claims that the Cupertino tech giant “continues to flout the legal” by remaining in violation of a Chinese court’s orders to stop selling iPhones 6s through iPhone X.
Apple will soon release special iOS updates to its Chinese customers that were specifically created to circumvent a pair of patents, owned by Qualcomm, which are essential to an iPhone injunction that the chip maker has won recently in the 1.33 billion people country.
Apple’s reportedly been actively hiring silicon engineers in San Diego, where it operates an office with a growing Wireless Architecture team, to work on a custom cellular modem for future iPhones.