Apple is taking iPhones off the market! - Litigation with Qualcomm

iPhone 7 / iPhone 8 / iPhone X have not been sold by Apple since December 2018. The reason is a legal dispute with Qualcomm, a chip manufacturer which, among other things, manufactures the well-known Snapdragon chip. The background to this is Apple's defeat in court, but this was not mandatory. Apple voluntarily drew the conclusion from a judgment of the district court Munich, in which the patent suit of the US chip manufacturer was granted.

However, the iPhone Xs, Xs Max and Xr models are still available in Apple Shops. The iPhone 7/8 can, however, still be purchased from the cell phone providers Telekom, Vodafone and Telefonica.

Qualcomm alleged a patent infringement. However, this decision is still pending. However, Qualcomm could have enforced a sales ban by means of interim legal protection. For this, the chip manufacturer had to deposit 668 million euros.

This amount serves as security in case Apple should still win in one of the higher instances and the US chip manufacturer has to pay damages.

The ordered sales ban also applies to the Chinese market. This intensifies the sales problems that the company already had with the apple in the Far East. So it remains to be seen how the competent higher regional court will decide on the legal dispute.