On the evening of October 26, Qualcomm filed a document with the California Superior Court in San Diego, accusing Apple of stealing data on product performance, software development tools and log files, and sharing it with Qualcomm’s competitors. Intel to improve its chip performance. Qualcomm said Apple’s behavior lasted for at least a few years and said Apple owed its $7 billion in royalties.
In the face of aggressive Qualcomm, Apple said that Qualcomm forced it to pay the same patent fee twice, once when Apple's iPhone used Qualcomm's chips, and the second time it charged the same fee through patent fees.
This will start from last January.
At that time, Apple used Qualcomm to use its huge patent portfolio to acquire the basic technology required for communication via cellular networks, and claimed over US$1 billion from Qualcomm on the grounds of excessive patent use. In the second half of last year, Qualcomm began to organize counterattacks, and in the name of patent infringement, many countries including the United States were banned from selling apples.
In fact, behind the litigation battle between Qualcomm and Apple, Intel is smashing the wall.
Qualcomm
The king of the chip and the mobile phone overlord used to be glued like paint.
Qualcomm's business comes from sales of chips and patent licenses. As early as 2000, Qualcomm integrated GPS into CDMA chips and system software. In the following years, Qualcomm continued to make technical improvements, including significantly increased processing performance and improved power management, which made Qualcomm almost impossible in the 3G era. Compatible.
Under the impact of the 4G wave, the chip industry began a major reshuffle. The famous chip makers such as TI, Broadcom and Marvell have withdrawn from the smartphone market. Under the big waves, only Qualcomm, Intel and Samsung have survived. However, Qualcomm is always the industry leader with its patent portfolio of CUP, ISP and Modem baseband.
For mobile phone manufacturers, instead of spending huge sums of money to buy patents and research and develop baseband chips, it is better to buy them directly. Even Apple is no exception. Since the launch of the iPhone 4 in 2011, Apple's baseband chips have been provided by Qualcomm.
But Qualcomm's charges can be described as overbearing. Mobile phone manufacturers and equipment manufacturers must pay the corresponding patent fees to Qualcomm. Operators need to indirectly bear the two patent license fees when purchasing mobile phone manufacturers' custom machines and purchasing equipment. For Qualcomm's exclusive supply, Apple has always been "insecure": not only does it have no say in price, it is also vulnerable to coercion.
In the case of the case, it is hard to flatten. In the second year, Apple’s unwilling Apple re-introduced Intel’s baseband chips, and the break with Qualcomm was irreparable.
Qualcomm Apple breaks up
In 2017, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm. Behind this, Apple has played a significant role in boosting.
FTC's allegations include: Qualcomm forced mobile phone manufacturers to accept its "no license without chip" policy; refused to grant standard essential patents to competitors; forced Apple to sign an exclusive agreement to achieve monopoly, etc., on the condition of lowering the license fee.
Apple then filed a lawsuit in a 134-page document asking Qualcomm to return $1 billion in patent fees. The focus is on the “Qualcomm Tax” that is well known in the industry – Qualcomm requires that handset manufacturers using their chip products will be charged a specific percentage of the patent fee based on the overall cost of the product. Apple said that as the average selling price of the iPhone rises, the patent fee drawn by Qualcomm will be higher.
This lawsuit is intriguing. If there is no new love, the apples will not abandon the old love.
In fact, since the iPhone 7 in 2017, Apple has used both Intel and Qualcomm's modem chips. According to industry analysts, Qualcomm's products are still superior to competitors in terms of actual use. But a report published by the well-known speed test application Speedtest manufacturer Ookla is a bit embarrassing: there is no difference in speed between the use of Qualcomm and Intel chips on the iPhone. It is speculated that Apple may artificially reduce the speed of mobile phones equipped with Qualcomm chips, so that it is consistent with the speed of mobile phones equipped with Intel chips.
In May 2017, Qualcomm launched a counterattack against Apple. Qualcomm said that Apple refused to pay the chip licensing fee, forcing its contract manufacturers not to pay fees, and inciting regulatory investigations, while limiting the performance of Qualcomm chips. Two months later, Qualcomm filed a lawsuit against the International Trade Commission (ITC) to infringe on the names of several patents, requiring the United States to ban the import of Apple products with Intel's baseband chips. In other countries, Qualcomm also filed a lawsuit for a ban.
On July 25, Qualcomm released its third-quarter earnings, which generated revenue of $5.6 billion in the quarter, surpassing expectations of Wall Street analysts. But at the press conference, Qualcomm CFO George. George Davis also revealed a special message: "On the next generation of iPhones, Apple may only use our competitors' products."
Who is the competitor? The answer is self-evident.
Spoiler Intel
Compared with Qualcomm, Intel's participation in the chip market is slightly slower.
Before the advent of Apple's mobile phone, Intel had its own wireless device chip division, only sold to Marvell in 2006. Intel, which lost its equipment, seems to be unable to do so in the bloody battle of the smartphone market. So in 2010, Intel acquired Infineon's wireless business for $1.4 billion and partnered with Apple that year.
However, due to the lack of CDMA products, Intel can only watch Apple turn to Qualcomm's embrace.
In order to save Apple, this former technology overlord has tried his best. In September 2015, Intel acquired VIA's CDMA patent from VIA, which made up for its shortcomings. Nowadays, the smart phone industry has stood at the door of the 5G era, and no one is willing to give up this bright pearl. The 5G mobile phone has far more transmission power than before, the frequency range has increased by 3 times, and the difficulty in research and development of communication technology has greatly increased. Even if Intel has its own patented CDMA technology, it is not enough to shake the position of Qualcomm.
Apple, which has eaten enough of the chip patent, is not fully accepted by Intel. In the first half of this year, Esin Terzioglu, vice president of technology research and development at Qualcomm, joined Apple. Since joining Qualcomm in August 2009, he has been in charge of Qualcomm CDMA Central Technology Department, which is the main force in Qualcomm chip development. Apple, who knows the direction of commercial warfare, will act on the independent research and development of baseband chips.
It’s unclear how long Intel and Apple’s honeymoon can last. After all, on the battlefield, there are only eternal interests rather than friends.
