Here we go again … Let the battle begin! Apple said they’ve been overcharged billions of dollars by Qualcomm for upgrading from 128GB to 256GB storage.
“Just days after the United States Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm for antitrust violations, Apple is joining in.
On Friday, Apple said it was suing the San Diego-based chipmaker, seeking $1 billion damages. Apple said Qualcomm “has unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with.”
“The more Apple innovates with unique features such as TouchID, advanced displays, and cameras, to name just a few, the more money Qualcomm collects for no reason and the more expensive it becomes for Apple to fund these innovations,” Apple said in a statement. “Qualcomm built its business on older, legacy, standards but reinforces its dominance through exclusionary tactics and excessive royalties. Despite being just one of over a dozen companies who contributed to basic cellular standards, Qualcomm insists on charging Apple at least five times more in payments than all the other cellular patent licensors we have agreements with combined.”
In the lawsuit, Apple said even upgrading something like the iPhone’s memory — from 128GB to 256GB — would result in Qualcomm collecting a larger royalty.
Apple said it has been overcharged billions of dollars on “Qualcomm’s illegal scheme.”
Source: Forbes
