Qualcomm, the leading smartphones chip manufacturer filed a case against Apple back in November which has now dramatically reached a whole new level. In the latest court filing on Tuesday Qualcomm alleged that Apple is stealing their trade secrets, confidential information and source code for the purpose of helping Intel to improve their chips.
Basically, Qualcomm provided modem chips for the iPhone which was used to connect to wireless data networks. Apple started using Intel chips in some of its models in the past years.
According to the CNBC reports:
“Qualcomm has unveiled explosive charges against Apple for stealing “vast swaths” of its confidential information and trade secrets for the purpose of improving the performance of chipsets provided by Qualcomm competitor Intel, according to a filing with the Superior Court of California.
The allegations are contained in a complaint that Qualcomm hopes the court will amend to its existing lawsuit against Apple for breaching the so called master software agreement that Apple signed when it became a customer of Qualcomm’s earlier this decade”
The company also requested to Judge Jacqueline M. Stern to add consideration of the latest accusation to its existing case instead of forcing it to file a new lawsuit.
Qualcomm even interacted with some of their investors and told them that according to their research the modem chips have been removed from the latest iPhones and were replaced with Intel chips. They even tear the newest generation Apple phones which were released this month which confirmed that Intel is supplying the modem chips.
There also have been reports about the poor network performance for some of the iPhone XS models, regardless of the faster downloads and uploads which is the cause of the ‘antenna gain issues.’
Qualcomm’s general counsel, Donald Rosenberg, told CNBC this case stands on its own and would have been filed regardless of the on-going dispute between the two companies.
“Unlawful use of Qualcomm’s valuable trade secrets to try to help a competitor catch up irreparably harms us and must not be allowed to continue,” he said.
Apple started using Qualcomm modems back in 2011 and completely switched to using it exclusively for that part. In 2016, when the iPhone 7 came out Apple then went back to using some Intel chips before the beginning of the legal dispute with Qualcomm in early 2017. It now mainly uses Intel modems in all of their new generation smartphones.
Did Apple really steal the source code to help improve Intel chips or Is it just a conspiracy against them to bring their market down? Tell us your opinions in the comments section below.