Chipmaker Qualcomm wants Apple iPhone sales banned

In the latest chapter of phone maker-versus-chip supplier, communications microchip manufacturer Qualcomm has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission, requesting that new Apple iPhones from China be barred from entering the country.

The US firm also wanted the commission to put a stop to sales of handsets that have already crossed the border.

It claimed Apple was in violation of six of its patents around extending a smartphone’s battery life.

Unlike other recent patent disputed between the two firms, Qualcomm claimed these patents are not essential in meeting a ‘standard’, meaning it was not legally obliged to licence them to Apple.

“Qualcomm’s inventions are at the heart of every iPhone and extend well beyond modem technologies or cellular standards,” said the company’s general counsel Don Rosenberg.

“Apple continues to use Qualcomm’s technology while refusing to pay for it.”

The dispute between the two companies entered the public arena earlier this year, after the California-based iPhone maker filed a parallel lawsuit to one by the Federal Trade Commission, alleging Qualcomm was being anti-competitive in how it handled sales of its LTE modems, which are used in smartphones to allow connection to 4G LTE networks.

Apple claimed Qualcomm was charging “disproportionately high” and complex fees for the modems, which it alleged was an abuse of its position as the world’s dominant supplier of the chipsets.

However, as the modems are considered ‘essential’ for a smartphone to meet 4G LTE standards, Qualcomm is required by US federal law to licence them at reasonable cost.