Amaya Toman Qualcomm emerged victorious from a second court hearing with Apple in Germany on Thursday. One result of the lawsuit is a ban on the sale of some older iPhone models in German stores. Qualcomm claims in the dispute that Apple infringes its hardware patent. Despite the fact that the verdict is not yet final, some iPhone models will indeed be withdrawn from the German market.
Qualcomm tried to ban the sale of iPhones in China as well, but here Apple only made certain changes to iOS to comply with the regulation. A German court has recognized that iPhones fitted with chips from Intel and Quorvo do infringe one of Qualcomm's patents. The patent relates to a feature that helps save battery when sending and receiving a wireless signal. Apple is fighting back against claims that Qualcomm is hindering competition, accusing its rival of acting illegally to preserve its own monopoly on modem chips.
In theory, Qualcomm's partial German victory could mean Apple losing several million iPhones out of hundreds of millions of units sold each year. During the appeal period, according to Apple's statement, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models should be available from fifteen German stores. The iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR models will continue to be available. Apple went on to say in a statement that it is disappointed by the ruling and plans to appeal. He added that in addition to the aforementioned 15 retail stores, all iPhone models will still be available in another 4300 locations across Germany.
Source: Reuters
iPhone 7 and 8? Is this still being done? It's like if Škoda produced Favorit and Felicia. I understand these phones from Doogee or Meizu. For Africa, pensioners, undemanding customers or as it is popular in the Apple community for socks. But Apple? ???