Apple and Qualcomm announce surprise settlement

Embed from Getty Images

In an unexpected move, Apple and Qualcomm have reached a settlement and agreed to drop all ongoing lawsuits, which have spanned the globe and started at least a couple years back. Apple will also pay Qualcomm an undisclosed amount and the two have reached a six-year global patent licensing deal that extends for another two years. Qualcomm will also supply parts to Apple for multiple years, which as The Verge suggests could mean we'll see Qualcomm modems in the iPhone again. 

Apple and Qualcomm have been fighting over Qualcomm's patent licensing practices, with Apple claiming that Qualcomm was charging exorbitantly high fees for essential patents. And while Qualcomm has been sued over its licensing practices and monopolistic behaviours around the world, the company has managed to pressure Apple a bit in recent months. It won iPhone bans in Germany and China over patent violations as well as a lawsuit in the US that put a high price on some of its patents. 

This means, Qualcomm could end up raising the price on Apple, making the latter more inclined to settle. It could also mean that the companies didn't want to spill any of its secrets publicly in court with both sides claiming they have details to spill.

What the settlement means is we could expect the two companies to return to business as usual for at least the next six years. The loser here could be Intel as Apple relied on Intel to provide iPhone modems while it couldn't reach an agreement with Qualcomm. We could see Apple splitting its modem orders between the two companies once again. The agreement could also mean that Apple might get access to Qualcomm's 5G modems, which is a piece of tech Intel is still developing.