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Qualcomm is now suing Apple’s suppliers too, including Foxconn

The dispute between Apple and Qualcomm is continuing to get uglier, with the chip maker now going after Apple's supply chain in court. Qualcomm has already filed a countersuit against Apple itself but now, the company is also going after four of the companies Apple uses to supply components for the iPhone, including Foxconn.

The legal troubles began earlier this year, when the US Federal Trade Commission announced that it would be taking Qualcomm to court over anti-competitive business practises. The FTC's lawsuit was based on complaints from Apple but recently, Samsung and Intel have also backed the commission. Apple went on to file its own separate lawsuit against Qualcomm and is said to be withholding around $1 billion in licensing fees while the legal dispute is underway.

According to a report from Reuters, Qualcomm has now filed claims against Foxconn and three other companies that currently hold contracts with Apple. According to Qualcomm, these companies have all failed to pay patent royalties, the chip maker also things they are doing so under Apple's orders.

In the meantime, Qualcomm has also filed an injunction in an effort to get the US to block Apple from importing any more iPhones.

KitGuru Says: At this point, it seems the dispute between Apple and Qualcomm is escalating every week. This case certainly isn't going to be over any time soon…

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16 comments

  1. Yea glad you added the part saying Apple instructed these companies to not pay the required payments. Qualcomm does not think Apple did this they know Apple did this as stated by other sites on the internet. If you use someones tech then you got to pay for it simple as that. Apple just wants a free ride look at what they are doing to that graphics chip maker and most likely will try to use that tech as well in their new GPU for the iphone and not want to pay for that as well. In this story both companies are probably at fault but until it is settled Apple needs to pay as well as the other companies as well they all entered into contracts and if they continue refusing to pay they are in breach of contract.

  2. Apple haters like you love to always use any MENTIONING of Apple to spew some stupid sh*t about it. Qualcomm is at fault here and not paying royalties to a company that has shady practices is IMO a perfect way to show it that it’s doing something wrong. The FTC, Apple, Samsung and Intel are suing Qualcomm for shady anti-competitive practices and your response it “hurr durr Apple is trying to get something free just as it will do with the GPU” – fanbois like you are retarded, man, better shut the f up when you understand nothing on some subject. Jeez.

  3. Yep I hate Apple that’s it maybe Apple is mentioned because they are one of the companies in the write up here. And no APPLE is wrong here more so than Qualcomm Apple has no right to tell other companies to not pay their payments. This is Apple pushing their weight around like they always like to do. They need to stop so no you stop spreading fud and stop being a fan boy long enough to see Apple is at fault for sticking their nose some in other companies business.

    Yes Qualcomm may have over stepped a bit but Apple has done it here a lot worse than Qualcomm and they have done it in the past as well. Apple is one of the most sue happy companies out there. They are also one of the companies that openly steals other companies tech slaps some paint on it changes some minor details and say here look we made something new and yet you Apple lovers never seem to see oh that product was released months or years ago and Apple gets credit for it.

    I will admit I don’t like Apple but not because of their products it is because of their under handed business tactics and the way they try to shaft other companies or if they can not compete with a company they either through money at that company or sue them for very little reason other than their product sucked a bit more than the other companies product did.

  4. “Yes Qualcomm may have over stepped a bit but Apple has done it here a lot worse than Qualcomm”
    Your fanboism is making you blind and deaf, boy.
    Apple is mentioned in the article, but the main spotlight is Qualcomm. Yet you try to turn around the topic on “hate-Apple-for-whatever-I-can-think-of”.
    And Apple lovers never seem to see that the feature Apple introduces is old? No, we see it. You know what the issue is? Before Apple set their sight on that feature – it was useless. My go-to example – NFC. Before Apple implemented NFC – almost no use for the chip. Apple decided to implement it – made contracts with a lot of companies and banks so they would implement a use for it – suddenly you could use NFC in so many places. But butthurt Samsung loveboys like you only said “hurr durr NFC existed years before Apple implemented it, it’s nothing new” – yeah. You guys are retards. Apple doesn’t need to invent all the tech. It needs to apply it properly. Which it does perfectly, and that’s why your shitty Samsung, combined with all other smartphone manufacturers in the world, doesn’t have the same profit as Apple. Keep thinking it’s because they are a shitty company 🙂
    Doesn’t make you smarter if you fail to realize why Apple is the most successful company in the world. It makes you a hipster at best. Enjoy.

  5. But to be specific on the topic – no, Apple is not wrong. Companies that have shitty anti-competitive practices deserve to not be paid by other companies. If Apple was in the place of Qualcomm here and the others were suing it and not paying it royalties, you would be all happy about it and saying “they are correct that they shouldn’t pay Apple!” – I have nothing else to say. You have no argument and no foundation.

  6. You seem to be stumping pretty hard for Apple here. Is that because this other guy has openly shown his disdain for them or is it your own fanboi standing out? I’m merely asking a question based on observation.

    The bottom line here is that both have any number of shady or less than ethical practices in their arsenal; as such, they are both guilty. Apple is not infallible by any means and should be taken to task for the laws it breaks. Appealing to the government for support seems shady in and of itself as they are clearly seeking favoritism for their side. That’s not the way it should work but often does.

    Don’t paint Apple as the wholly innocent party here as that’s far from the truth. Admit that much and we’re good. Otherwise, your comments don’t have much merit, either. Just saying.

  7. I like Apple, but definitely not to the point of being a fanboy. Only like their smartphone department anyway. But I like OnePlus more than iPhones.

    Of course Apple has indulged in shady practices and I am far from denying any such thing. When they do wrong I don’t deny nor defend it. My point was in this particular case what they are doing is right and Qualcomm is at fault.

    Sadly a hater like Rocky40 will never see that as for them whatever Apple does is wrong. I.e. Apple doesn’t give to charity – oh, Apple is evil company that doesn’t do anything good for others!. Apple gives to charity – oh, Apple is evil company that does this only for attention and to paint themselves as a good company!
    ^ People that do that – that I hate.

  8. Apple is one of the most anti competitive companies out there so with that said I guess by your own words they should not be paid. If they can beat them they sue the other companies or throw wads of cash at them. Did you know iphone was around long before Apple stole the name so they could use it as their own. Linksys had a iphone device out many years before the iPhone came around no it was not a cell phone it was a skype phone called the Linksys Iphone I know I had one. When Apple came out fully knowing the name was already in use Linksys said we own that name stop using it Apple threw cash at them and saif Frack off we now own the name basically we have a product out now too with that name.

    But hey don’t ever try to use Apples names or have a logo that is even remotely close to Apples you will be sued out of existence by them they did that a few years back to a company that had a logo with a Apple on it. So do not try to tell me Apple is a saint here they are one of the worst offenders out there so yea I got an argument and a foundation to stand on. Anyone that has not lived under a rock knows how Apple operates and treats other companies.

  9. I’m not a Qualcomm fanboy I have no control what gets put inside my smartphone I think Qualcomm tech is actually junk but they are the main game in town so yea you got to have it inside a lot of your devices.

  10. 1. If Apple bought the name from Linksys I see nothing wrong here, I’m 100% sure they didn’t tell them “frack off”.
    2. Of course they’ll sue other companies for using their logo. That’s how you recognize the company. It’s not the same as a single product that Linksys offered.
    3. I didn’t say Apple is a saint. But in this article – yeah, they did nothing wrong. So no, you don’t have an argument nor a foundation because you are a blind and deaf Apple hater and nothing more.

    Bonus: Yeah, we know how Apple operates and treats companies. You don’t, on the other hand, since you are heavily biased.

    PS: I did not claim you are a Qualcomm fanboy. I do claim you are either an Android fanboi, which is not so bad, or, more likely, a Samsung fanboi, which is retardation at it’s finest. And explains perfectly well why you are a blind hater.

  11. I see. I appreciate gour understanding of my points and the explanation of your own.

  12. NFC actually exist years before and yes it was used by lots of people. I used it myself with my LG phone and my printer as an example set the phone on top of the printer and it connected and printed what you wanted no install required. Yes Apple used it for banking and payments as well but it was there before Apple said hey look at what we invented. I will say one thing Apple is good at taking others ideas refining them a bit and then releasing that refined product. Which also gives that tech a lot of spot light because Apple is a big company and gets a lot of media attention. What I dislike is Apple fanboys thinking Apple did something that was revolutionary when they released that new product it was not someone else did it before them all Apple did was polish the turd a bit more to make it look more shiny.

  13. You give way too much credit to original inventors and way too little to the ones refining the inventions. Would you say that airline companies are shitty because they weren’t the original inventors of the planes? The Wright brothers deserve more credit than them and we should spit on the refined airplane models?
    I said it before, I’ll say it again – hate makes you blind and deaf.
    Apple sometimes does things that are revolutionary. Not always, not often, but sometimes they do. Most of the times they just implement nice and cool features. And people like them because those features actually do work. That’s it.
    You dislike people that are just not so into tech so they are not informed about those features before Apple uses them. Not everyone is into tech man. If someone only uses iPhones and never Androids, of course he won’t know about NFC before Apple uses it in the iPhones. And he’ll be amazed by it when they implement it. Does it make him dumb? Does it make Apple evil? Do they say they invented NFC? To all – no. So I don’t see what you are complaining about.

  14. It seems we both and disagree on parts of this topic. You got some good points as well. I don’t hate apples products I just dislike their business practices. But I guess there are other companies out there that can get out of hand as well so it is not only Apple it is the industry as a whole. Everyone is sue happy these days which is to bad because we may end up missing out on some good tech because these companies are more worried about every penny and not their products.

  15. wow after reading your inane rant I had to wonder “that’s the sperm that won?”

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