Apple and Qualcomm have reached a settlement over unpaid royalty rebates.
The two companies had only just begun a legal battle, but the case has now been cut short as the companies have reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed figure.
Speaking in a press release, Apple said that the “settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm” and that the companies had reached a “six-year license agreement, effective as of April 1, 2019, including a two-year option to extend, and a multiyear chipset supply agreement”.
It’s believed that Qualcomm has now signed up to supply 5G modems for iPhones in 2020.
Intel withdraws from the 5G race
The news comes on the same day as Intel announced plans to withdraw from the 5G race.
Apple and Qualcomm’s fallout dates back to 2017 when Apple sued Qualcomm for more than $1 billion in unpaid royalty rebates and accused the chip company of anti-competitive patent licensing practices.
The company stopped using Qualcomm chips in iPhones and iPads during the legal battle and partnered with Intel in 2018 instead.
Apple was expected to use Intel’s 5G chips, but the company has now announced it will no longer be developing a chip for smartphones and instead focus on internet of things (IoT) technology.
Samsung has already announced a 5G-capable smartphone, but Apple’s battle with Qualcomm has put a spanner in the company’s works, and it’s now expected that an iPhone with 5G technology will ship from 2020, rather than later in the year.
Rumors suggest that Apple will begin testing and development of next year’s iPhone in the coming weeks, now that Qualcomm can supply the company with 5G modems required for the phone to work.
Are you pleased to see Apple and Qualcomm kiss and make up? Let us know on Twitter using @AppleMagazine, and check back soon for more rumors on the next-generation iPhone and iPad lineups.
