Apple Not in Settlement Talks With Qualcomm 'At Any Level', Gearing Up for Trial [Report]

Apple is not in settlement talks with Qualcomm 'at any level' and is gearing up for trial, according to a new report from Reuters.

Apple says that license agreements giving Qualcomm a cut of every iPhone manufactured are invalid and has instructed its suppliers to withhold royalties to Qualcomm until the dispute is sorted. Qualcomm denies the allegations and claims Apple owes $7 billion in unpaid royalties.

So far, it appears that regulators have sided with Apple. Qualcomm has been fined $1.2 billion by the EU, $773 million by Taiwan, and is being sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that Qualcomm must license some of its technology to competitors such as Intel.


In July, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf claimed the two companies were in talks to resolve litigation.

“We continue to talk. We also have a number of ... legal strategies that are in flight,” Mollenkopf said. “And we hope that through the combination of either those paths, we could get to a resolution, and we’re confident that we will.”

A source tells Reuters that isn't currently the case.

“There is absolutely no meaningful discussion taking place between us and Qualcomm, and there is no settlement in sight,” the person said. “We are gearing up for trial.”


As a result of the dispute, Apple has dropped Qualcomm as a modem supplier and is now exclusively using Intel modems for new models. This is expected to continue into 2019 and 2020.

More details in the full report linked below...

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