Items tagged with Qualcomm
Apple is now having to face the music with respect to iPhone sale in Germany. Earlier this year, Qualcomm won an injunction against Apple for patent infringement due to the Intel 4G LTE modems used in its iPhone 7/iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8/iPhone 8 Plus devices. The injunction resulted in Apple having to pull the iPhones in question off store shelves in Germany. Now, we're learning that Apple will be allowed to sell the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in Germany, but there's just one big stipulation: the company has to use Qualcomm modems instead of its favored Intel counterparts. This...
Read more...
One way to cut costs and increase margins is to design as much technology as possible in-house for the products you sell. This fact is not lost on Google. Over the past several months, Google has hired a bunch of chip engineers in Bengaluru, India, including ones who have previously worked for companies like Broadcom, Intel, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm. This is not an entirely new venture for Google. The company has been designing semiconductors for the past five years, primarily for its data centers, but also image processing chips for its Pixel family of smartphones. It is not clear if the unannounced...
Read more...
Apple is a company that likes to keep as much of its hardware development in-house as it possibly can. This allows the company to extract the most performance possible from its hardware designs through increasing integration. The most famous example of this is the company's A-Series chips that power everything from iPhones to iPads to HomePods. It's no secret that Apple has an in-house team dedicated to building future 5G cellular modems that would be used in its iPhone and iPad/iPad Pro product lines -- and perhaps even future MacBooks. A new report from Reuters claims that...
Read more...
Qualcomm on Thursday unveiled a new mobile processor for mid-range devices that is built on a 10-nanometer manufacturing process. It's the Snapdragon 712, and according to Qualcomm, it offers a 12 percent performance uptick compared to the previous generation Snapdragon 710, which is also a 10nm chip. This is essentially a refinement of Qualcomm's Snadragon 7 series. As with its predecessor, the Snapdragon 712 sports a multi-core AI engine. In this case, it sports a Qualcomm Kryo 360 CPU, Adreno 616 GPU, and Hexagon 685 DSP. While there aren't any major architectural changes to the new silicon,...
Read more...
Apple and Qualcomm are battling in courts around the world with the heaviest fighting going on in Germany right now. Qualcomm was able to win an iPhone sales ban that forced Apple to pull the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 from German stores. Apple has now won a victory in Germany with courts throwing four of the eight patent lawsuits Qualcomm had brought against it. Germany's Munich Regional court has ruled that the Apple Spotlight search function used in the iPhone and Siri voice assistant didn't infringe on a pair of Qualcomm patents. The patents in question were European patents 1,955,529 and 1,956,806;...
Read more...
Back in 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a suit against Qualcomm alleging antitrust violations, and only reached trial this week. Odds are that even if the FTC wins the suit against Qualcomm, and licensing fees and royalties that smartphone makers are charged decreased, the smartphone makers would simply pocket the savings and consumers will continue to pay the same prices. While the FTC is accusing Qualcomm of antitrust violations, the price of royalties that Qualcomm charges is 5% of the cost of the device up to $20 per handset maximum. That certainly is a hefty chunk for the...
Read more...
At CES 2019, Qualcomm is showing off some of its in-vehicle prowess with the unveiling of multi-tiered third-generation Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit platforms that include Performance, Premiere, and Paramount classes. Those classes represent entry-level, mid-tier, and supercomputing platforms respectively. Qualcomm says that its new platform is designed with a modular architecture to let automakers customize options for their buyers. The new Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platforms are the first-announced scalable AI-based platforms claims Qualcomm, and it notes that the platform is designed to...
Read more...
Yesterday, Qualcomm put up €1.34 billion in security bonds in order to enforce a German court ruling in its favor made in late December regarding a bitter patent dispute with Apple. The patents pertained to "power savings technology" used in modern smartphones call envelope tracking. Today, Apple has been forced to pull its iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 from its own stores in Germany. Apple's German website was the first to boot the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8, but it remains to be seen if/when other retailers will follow suit. For its part, Qualcomm claims that the court order also covers third-party...
Read more...
Qualcomm is looking to box Apple in with regards to the ongoing legal battle between the two companies. Earlier this month, Qualcomm won an injunction in China, which should have resulted in an import/sales ban on every iPhone made dating back to the iPhone 6S/iPhone 6S Plus. However, Apple has largely ignored that ruling, saying that a new iOS 12 update provides a workaround for the two Qualcomm patents in question. Today, however, Apple was dealt another blow, this time in a German court. In this latest chapter in the legal drama, Qualcomm successfully...
Read more...
If you thought that a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor paired with 10GB of RAM was the bee’s knees, then you'll definitely be bowled over by Lenovo's latest release. Just a few weeks ago, we were championing the release of the world's first flagship phones with 10GB of RAM onboard, and now Lenovo has announced the Z5 Pro GT which is the world's first smartphone to come with 12GB of RAM. It seems as though not long ago, 4GB was the "gold standard" and many OEMs simply skipped over 6GB and went straight for 8GB. Now with 10GB and 12GB smartphones upon us, it's up to developers...
Read more...
Apple and Qualcomm aren't on friendly terms right now considering that the two firms are currently embroiled in a long-running legal battle over patents and royalties. Qualcomm claims that Apple owes billions in royalty payments, while Apple maintains that its devices don't infringe on Qualcomm patents. Qualcomm was granted a sales ban on some older iPhone models in China and is now trying to add the iPhone XR and iPhone XS to the sales ban. Any possibility of having its new hotness banned in China has Apple scrambling to ready a software update that completely bypass the Qualcomm patents...
Read more...
The stakes in the ongoing legal drama between Apple and Qualcomm are getting higher. Earlier this week, a Chinese court sided with Qualcomm, imposing an import and sales ban on Apple products ranging from the iPhone 6s/iPhone 6s Plus on through to the iPhone X. The basis for the preliminary injunction was that Apple infringed upon two Qualcomm patents. Qualcomm is now going for the throat, and is asking Chinese courts to ban the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. These represent Apple's most recent iPhones, and according to Apple's own figures, the iPhone XR is currently...
Read more...
Apple and Qualcomm have a very long-running legal battle that has seen the two fighting in court over patent infringement and chip royalties. Qualcomm was also granted an import ban on some iPhones in China, but that ban had no teeth according to Apple. While Qualcomm's CEO has stated it is nearing the end of the legal war with Apple, that seems unlikely. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has now announced that it would review a ruling that banned the import of some iPhone models into the U.S., which it says is not in the public interest even if Apple infringed on the patents....
Read more...
Apple has found itself in a legal entanglement with Qualcomm over LTE modem patents and licensing. Apple was a long-time Qualcomm customer, purchasing LTE modems for its popular iPhones and iPads. However, a licensing dispute -- with Apple alleging that Qualcomm was double dipping on fees -- led to an all-out war. Since that time, Apple has gone exclusively with Intel LTE modems for its smartphones and tablets. Looking towards the future, however, Apple appears to be ready to rid itself of both Qualcomm and Intel. A new job listing posted by Apple, first spotted by The...
Read more...
