Apple States iPhones will Remain Available in the Chinese Market
Last updated June 16, 2021
- Apple’s older iPhone models in danger of getting banned in China
- Qualcomm claiming Apple infringed two of their own patents without compensation
- The legal battle between the two continues, with uncertainty on both sides building up
Apple has naturally filed an appeal against a preliminary injunction that was induced to them by the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court. According to the court’s ruling, the importing and selling of older iPhone models including iPhone 6, 7, and 8, should be banned. The reason is that those models seemingly violate two patents owned by Qualcomm, and previously found to be valid patents by the Chinese office (SIPO).
The patents concern photo editing and app management features and they are just a drop in an ocean of patents owned by Qualcomm and possibly violated by Apple. That said, Qualcomm is only warming up in their effort to lock Apple out of the world’s largest smartphone market, and the 18% of their recent total sales. As the executive vice president of the company stated: “Apple continues to benefit from our intellectual property while refusing to compensate us. These Court orders are further confirmation of the strength of Qualcomm’s vast patent portfolio.”
This comes on top of Apple’s current downward trend in China, with Huawei and Oppo pressing harder and gaining larger pieces of the market pie lately. According to analysts, the reason behind this drop is mainly Apple’s high prices on their recent models, while their potential for recovery next year is good enough if they release slightly cheaper models.
All that said, Apple will not give up so easily, and they do not accept any patent violation. Their fight-back statement was that Qualcomm’s lawsuit in China was: “another desperate move by a company whose illegal practices are under investigation by regulators around the world.” Moreover, Apple claims one of the patents that Qualcomm used for the basis of the recent lawsuit has already been invalidated.
As the court battle between the two giants continues and shows no signs of appeasing, both companies are losing appraisal value due to uncertainty. Apple has seen its share value getting dropped by Citi from $240 to $200 recently, while Qualcomm’s stock price immediately dropped by 20% from the moment they started pursuing Apple, and it has stayed on this level since then. For now, both bet on a win that will launch their shares to unprecedented levels, but until then, we’ll have to wait and see how their war develops battle by battle.
Where do you stand on Qualcomm vs. Apple? Do you believe that Apple has genuinely committed copyright infringement, or is this another path towards the continuation of the legal battles? Let us know of your opinion in the comments below, and don’t forget to share this story and follow TechNadu on Facebook and Twitter.
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