Qualcomm and Apple have been in court recently due to the fact that Apple believes Qualcomm is overcharging for its patents that Apple uses in the iPhone (as well as most other smartphones). Now, Apple has Intel on its side, as the semiconductor company has released its own statement, essentially saying that Qualcomm tried to squeeze Intel – its only sizable competitor in the industry – out of the mobile industry.
Many might be wondering why Intel has jumped into this suite, well, some of its LTE modems that are used in Apple’s newer iPhones actually infringe on Qualcomm’s patents. And due to this, Qualcomm has demanded that Apple replace those parts in those iPhones. Reportedly, and this isn’t confirmed, the GSM models for T-Mobile, AT&T and most of the world uses Intel’s LTE modems while the CDMA variants for Sprint and Verizon in the US are using Qualcomm’s modems. And that’s generally the case for most smartphones in the US, due to the number of patents that Qualcomm has for CDMA technologies. But that’s not all, for Intel’s side of the story. Intel also noted that Qualcomm offered Apple lower licensing fees for using only Qualcomm chips and not using Intel’s at all. Stating that “these arrangements foreclosed rivals like Intel from competing for Apple’s vital business.”
Intel also thinks that Qualcomm may have an ulterior motive here, in its dispute with Apple. In that it wants to completely get Intel out of the mobile market. Now, Intel isn’t large in the mobile market, not like it is in the desktop and PC market. Intel has very few products on the market with its own parts inside it. And recently it reportedly pulled out of the wearable space, giving more of that market to Qualcomm and Samsung with its Exynos brand. Intel believes this to be the case since Qualcomm did not open a case against Intel for the LTE modems that allegedly infringe on Qualcomm’s own patents. But instead are looking to get rid of its competition. Which is not something that regulators are going to want to put up with.