In response to Apple’s legal action against them a few months ago, Qualcomm announced on Monday that they were filing their own lawsuit. In January, Apple accused Qualcomm of abusing its position in the chip industry in order to charge higher royalties on standard products and forcing Apple into exclusive deals. Apple also claimed that Qualcomm failed to pay $1 billion in licencing rebates.
Qualcomm’s response was to state that Apple’s success with their iPhones would not have been possible without the cellular chips that the company creates and supplies. With this in mind, the company have put forward five key claims against Apple, alleging that they have breached agreements and interfered in other agreements with other manufacturers of the iPhone and iPad.
The company also claim that Apple have attacked them on other jurisdictions. Qualcomm received fines in China and South Korea in antitrust investigations and the company now have to defend themselves against a similar case put forward by the FTC a few weeks before Apple’s first lawsuit.
Qualcomm have also stated that Apple have failed to utilize the full potential of their chips in the iPhone 7, meaning that it’s performance was misrepresented against the Intel LTE chips. According to Qualcomm, Apple also threatened them in an attempt to prevent any public comparisons between their chip and the Intel LTE.
“Over the last ten years, Apple has played a significant role in bringing the benefits of mobile technology to consumers with its popular products and services,” Qualcomm executive vice president and general counsel Don Rosenberg stated. “But Apple could not have built the incredible iPhone franchise that has made it the most profitable company in the world, capturing over 90 percent of smartphone profits, without relying upon Qualcomm’s fundamental cellular technologies.”
Another round of the Apple vs Qualcomm battle leaves the ball in Apple’s court, but Qualcomm have stated plans to “vigorously defend” its business model against Apple.