Chip manufacturing giant, Qualcomm, has been slammed with a $1.2 billion (997 million euros) fine for paying off Apple between 2011 and 2016. According to the European Unionâs antitrust arm, these payments meant that only Qualcomm’s chip was used in iPhones and iPads within the period and this is illegal. The fine represents 4.9% of Qualcommâs revenue in 2017, the EU said.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told reporters at a Brussels press conference.
âApple was seriously thinking of switchingâ from Qualcomm to Intel chips âwhich would have made a big difference to Intel” but couldnât do so until its Qualcomm pact was about to expire in September 2016, âThis meant that no rival could effectively challenge Qualcomm in this market, no matter how good their products were,”…”Weâre talking about one of the biggest and most important customers in this market.”
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Our best guess is that Intel was most affected by Qualcomm’s actions because the company has been supplying iDevices since early last year when iPhone 7 was launched. Interestingly, Apple has not been convicted of any wrongdoings and they are free. However, Qualcomm said in a statement
“Qualcomm strongly disagrees with the decision and will immediately appeal it to the General Court of the European Union,”…”this decision does not relate to Qualcommâs licensing business and has no impact on ongoing operations.”
A lawyer at White & Case, Brussels – Assimakis Komninos said that âThis is a huge fine by any standards and shows that Commissioner Vestager is starting 2018 very aggressively,”.
Apple shouldnt be getting away with it either, fine both or neither I say.
Since when does Apple use QC chips? Pretty sure they use their own.