Apple will bring in Germany, the affected by a sales ban older iPhone models 7 and 8 with other chips back on the market.
Background is the patent dispute with the chip company Qualcomm, which had the beginning of the year stop the sale of equipment after a court order.
In Germany, versions with communication chips from Qualcomm will be sold instead of Intel, as Apple announced. There is no other choice to make sure that all models remain available on the market. At the same time, the company made it clear that the fundamental dispute with Qualcomm continues.
Apple accuses Qualcomm of excessive royalties and unfair competition. Qualcomm then sued Apple before many courts with the allegation of patent infringement – including in Germany.
The Munich district court ruled in December that a chip for power management of the company Qorvo violated a Qualcomm patent and had a sales ban.
The Qorvo technology is integrated with the communication chips from Intel, so Apple had to completely replace the supplier. Intel emphasized that the company’s technologies are not affected themselves.
Qorvo also emphasizes that its technical solution does not infringe the Qualcomm patent – but refused to divulge details in the Munich case, fearing that Qualcomm would learn trade secrets. Thus, the court passed its verdict without directly examining the technology.
A few days ago, the website „WinFuture“ had already reported that the older iPhone models would return to the market with a technical change.
Even after the ban on sales came into force, you could continue to buy the affected models iPhone 7, 8 and X at dealers and mobile operators. Apple itself took the iPhone 7 and 8 from its stores and on the website. The company has already replaced the iPhone X in its own range with the newer models XS and XR.
