Qualcomm - page 6

2017 was a pretty damn good year for the world’s most profitable tech company.

Apple did much more than rake in more cash than any company this year. Cupertino also pushed out its most impressive product lineup ever, laid the groundwork for the future of augmented reality, moved into a new spaceship campus, battled other tech giants and got tossed into the political spotlight.

Apple dominated the tech scene in 2017 more than any other company. Here’s a recap of some of the year’s most memorable Apple moments.

Apple has reportedly shifted half of its baseband modem chipsets for iOS devices to Intel from Qualcomm, and is now considering shifting additional orders to Taiwanese manufacturer MediaTek.

The news comes at a time when hostilities between Apple and former manufacturer Qualcomm continue to heat up, with no signs that they will come to a close soon.

The battle between Apple and Qualcomm and Apple is turning downright nasty.

Hot on the heels of Apple’s counter-lawsuit, Qualcomm has filed three new patent infringement claims against the iPhone-maker. It is also seeking a ban on the import of all AT&T and T-Mobile iPhone X and iPhone 8 units in the US which could cause major headaches for Apple.

Hot on the heels of Apple suing Qualcomm over its Snapdragon processors, Qualcomm has fired back by filing a patent lawsuit (a counter-countersuit?) against Apple for technology in the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.

Qualcomm filed its grievance with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. It singles out five patents that Apple is allegedly infringing on — including tech related to radio frequency transceivers, power management in mobile CPUs, image enhancement using depth-based data, and more.

Apple has filed a countersuit against Qualcomm in the latest twist in the battle between the two companies, which has run throughout 2017.

What Apple is alleging is that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile phone chips, which power a range of Samsung and other Android handsets, run into conflict with Apple’s own earlier patents.

Apple’s new A11 Bionic makes iPhone X blazing fast. It’s faster than its biggest rivals, despite fewer processing cores and slower clock speeds. But there’s a new Android that narrowly beats Apple’s latest in a real-world speed test.

And believe it or not, that Android costs half as much as iPhone X.

In the latest twist in the Apple versus Qualcomm battle, Qualcomm has sued Apple yet again — this time claiming that it has taken advantage of its access to Qualcomm code to help rival Intel by giving it information about Qualcomm’s technology.

The lawsuit lends credibility to a previous story suggesting that Apple may be planning to drop Qualcomm chips for new iPhones and iPads which will ship in 2018, and replace them chips made by Intel and MediaTek.

With the legal battles between Apple and Qualcomm showing no signs of coming to a close, a new report claims that Apple is working to develop new iPhones and iPads for 2018 which don’t make use of any Qualcomm chips whatsoever.

While Apple (obviously) hasn’t made any announcements yet, it is said to be looking at chips made by Intel and MediaTek. The reason for the lack of Qualcomm’s chips could be a mutual decision, due to Apple not wanting to continue to work with Qualcomm, and Qualcomm withholding the necessary testing software for its latest chips.

Speaking on stage at the Wall Street Journal’s D.Live tech conference, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that he thinks that the company’s feud with Apple can be resolved — so long as the right fee is negotiated.

“At the end, the important thing to remember is this is fundamentally a discussion about pricing over the fundamental technology that makes the phone the phone,” Mollenkopf said. “It comes down to, how much are you going to pay?”

Apple’s bitter legal feud with Qualcomm is being taken to an all-new level over in China.

The San Diego-based chip company has filed a lawsuit with a Beijing intellectual property court demanding all sales and production of the iPhone to be banned.

Qualcomm has suffered another blow in its battle with Apple after being fined a record $773 million by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission for alleged antitrust violations over a period of at least seven years.

Specifically, the fine involves Qualcomm’s collection of NT$400 billion ($13.2 billion) in licensing fees from local companies. The Taiwanese regulator hammered Qualcomm’s monopolistic market status for not providing products to clients who won’t agree to its terms and conditions.

Google’s new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL might be a little disappointing to some Android fans, but they’re still stellar smartphones. Both sport attractive designs that pack the best hardware available, including excellent cameras, and the speedy Snapdragon 835 chipset.

But can they convince iPhone fans to jump ship? Here’s how the new Pixel lineup compares to iPhone 8 and the upcoming iPhone X.

Apple is interested in developing its own in-house ARM-based processors for MacBooks, modem chips for iPhones, and a “chip that integrates touch, fingerprint and display driver functions,” claims a new report.

Doing this would allow Apple to lessen its reliance on companies on companies like Qualcomm, which Apple is currently locked in a legal battle with.

Qualcomm has suffered a blow in its patent royalty battle with Apple after losing two hearings.

The first hearing means that Qualcomm cannot force Apple’s manufacturing partners to make royalty payments before the total quantity of royalties are settled. The second means that it cannot stop Apple from seeking antitrust cases against Qualcomm in other countries.

Don’t expect Android phones to be able to match the upcoming iPhone’s 3D sensing technology any year soon.

According to a new report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple competitor Qualcomm is working on its own 3D sensing tech, but it’s at least two years behind. And handset-makers aren’t in a rush to embrace it quite yet.

The iPhone 7 Plus may be almost a year old now, but it’s still one of the most powerful smartphones you can buy today.

So powerful, in fact, that not even Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 8 can outperform it in early benchmark tests.

Apple has some serious backup in its battle against Qualcomm, as a lobbying group representing some of tech’s heaviest hitters (including a handful of Apple’s biggest historic enemies) have called on regulators to reject Qualcomm’s bid to ban the importing of iPhones.

Some of the names in said group? Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Samsung — all of whom have filed official comments in support of Apple with the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Apple is reportedly paying the legal costs of four of its assemblers, Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron and Compal, as they challenge Qualcomm in court.

In a filing made late Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the Apple suppliers allege that Qualcomm has violated two sections of the U.S. antitrust law, the Sherman Act.

It seems that the once-rapidly escalating war of attrition between Apple and Qualcomm may be coming to an end.

Speaking at the Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen this week, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that issues such as the one between Qualcomm and Apple, “tend to get to resolved out of court, and there’s no reason why I wouldn’t expect that to be the case here.”

The ongoing fight between Apple and Qualcomm could result in an import ban on all new iPhones powered by Intel.

Qualcomm requested today that the U.S. International Trade Commission place a “limited exclusion order” on all iPhones that use Intel’s 4G wireless modem. iPhones powered by Qualcomm’s chip would be excluded from the ban.

Qualcomm may have cracked the problem of putting a Touch ID-style sensor beneath the glass of a smartphone display, but that doesn’t mean that we can expect it to ship any time soon.

The new technology was demoed last week at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017 conference, raising hopes that Apple may also be able to debut similar technology in its next-gen iPhone 8. However, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Qualcomm’s technology still is “not perfect,” and there’s no clear timetable on its release.

Whether Apple will be able to deliver on the rumor that it will be embedding its Touch ID fingerprint sensor beneath the display of the iPhone 8 remains to be seen.

However, a new demo coming out of the currently-happening Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017 demonstrates that it is indeed possible — with Qualcomm showing off ultrasonic technology that allows fingerprint unlocking even through OLED displays.

Apple’s ongoing legal battle with Qualcomm just got even more interesting after the iPhone-maker branded its partner’s license agreements invalid.

Cupertino is fighting to prevent Qualcomm from taking a cut of every iPhone sold, and to prevent the chipmaker’s alleged double-dipping to maximize revenue it earns from its modem chips.

Apple’s next-generation iPhone won’t offer the same super-speedy gigabit LTE speeds as rival smartphones, according to a new report.

Qualcomm is the only company currently offering modems that support gigabit LTE, but thanks to a recent fallout with Apple, it will not be the sole modem supplier for iPhone 8.

Intel is benefitting from Apple’s current standoff with Qualcomm, with Apple reportedly upping its wireless “baseband” chip orders from Intel for the iPhone.

Apple first added Intel as a second baseband supplier in 2016. This was part of its strategy to diversify the number of suppliers that provide each of its components, to allow Apple to lessen its risk and negotiate more favorable terms for components.