If you have always thought the iPhone a product made in the U.S, the Cupertino designed product is in fact manufactured in Asia, and for that, Qualcomm has seek the International Trade Commission to ban the import iPhone into its homeland, simply because Apple failed to pay billions of dollars in licensing fees for the use of smartphone chips, now this could be a big blow to the tech giant if it ever goes through.
The legal suit between the San Diego based chipmaker and Cupertino has been going on for a while now, though Apple uses Intel modems in some batches of the iPhone, there are patents that involves high speed data wireless technology allows Qualcomm to charge a certain percentage to any smartphone manufacturers, regardless if the device uses the company’s modem. Apple has argued this as an unfair business practice and accused Qualcomm of using the earnings to illegaly fund its semiconductor unit, and the company’s decision to stop paying licensing fees to Qualcomm has been a blow to the chip maker.
As always, lawsuits are always considered as the money game, its either Qualcomm offers a deal to Apple on its technology licensing fee, or Apple would pay a huge bill over this dispute, and this is going to be an interesting case for other smartphone manufacturers as well, since all smartphone makers will be required to pay Qualcomm for every device they sell.
SOURCE: Bloomberg