Apple is reportedly dropping Qualcomm chips from its devices in 2018.
Just days after reports surfaced that Apple might be dropping Qualcomm chips in iPhones and iPads next year, the chip-maker has sued the Cupertino-based giant on grounds of mistrust. Qualcomm claims in a new lawsuit that Apple has shared its trade secrets with rival chip-maker Intel. Qualcomm states that Apple “exercised its commercial leverage” to demand “unprecedented access” to its “very valuable and highly confidential software, including source code”, Bloomberg reported.
Apple had been buying modems from Qualcomm until the iPhone 7 last year, when it started partnering with Intel as well. Intel, meanwhile, is Qualcomm’s biggest rival and the latter alleges that Apple failed to protect its software and now isn’t allowing the chipmaker to review the process — that Qualcomm claims was a part of its contract with the iPhone-maker. Apple made an email request for proprietary information from Qualcomm and included an Intel engineer on the distribution list, according to the lawsuit. ALSO READ: Apple building its own chips to reduce dependence on Qualcomm, Intel: Report
If Apple stops sourcing software components from Qualcomm, it could result in the latter’s revenues declining by 7.5 percent. Apple has been strengthening its own chip-making unit to reduce dependence on both Qualcomm and Intel. It plans to self-build core processors for notebooks, modem chips for iPhones, and a chip that can integrate touch, fingerprint, and display driver functions. Apple had even made a $3 billion for Toshiba’s chip business. Toshiba, which supplies flash memory for Apple’s iPhones and iPods, is looking to close a $19 billion deal for its chip-making division.
Qualcomm, on the other hand, faced a billion-dollar lawsuit from Apple earlier this year where the iPhone-maker accused the chip manufacturer of “charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with”. Apple alleged that Qualcomm had taken “radical steps” that included “withholding nearly $1 billion in payments from Apple”. It even said that Qualcomm was charging Apple five times more than all other cellular patent licencors it had agreements with. ALSO READ: Ahead of iPhone 8 launch, Qualcomm says Android is the home of all ‘firsts’
Qualcomm then got back at Apple on the eve of its new launches where it claimed in a scathing blog post that Android was the home of all “firsts” in mobile. It was a not-so-veiled dig at Apple’s soon-to-announced wireless charging feature in the iPhone 8 and Face ID recognition in the iPhone X. With the latest lawsuit, it is evident that the bitter battle is far from over!
इसे भी देखें: Intel के साथ चिप कोड को साझा करने का आरोप लगाते हुए Qualcomm ने Apple पर दायर किया मुकदमा