Let's go back to talking about the history of Qualcomm and Apple, but this time not about how the processor manufacturer has allegedly been urging Apple to pay rights that did not belong to it, but rather a matter in which the European Union has fully entered.
And is that the manufacturer of LTE chips of almost all iPhone (so far obviously) is in serious trouble for many reasons. Apart from the pending litigation, Qualcomm has just received a fine of 997 million euros from the European Union.
The investigating body has determined that Qualcomm has been paying the Cupertino company (billions according to data) with the intention that it would not use the LTE chips of other competing brands, thus keeping all the production some of the best-selling phones on the market and thus increasing not only their profit margins, but also their application to other brands thanks to the showcase that they offer to manufacture for a company like Apple. We do not know how common without these practices in the world of technology and consumer electronics, what is clear is that the European Union has not liked it at all.
The European Commission has determined that this move goes against the free market and the competition laws that govern the market. These billion represent a significant portion, despite the fact that the latest audits speak of Qualcomm could have made up to $ 20.000 billion in profits over the past year, so this blow will not sit too well in the firm's treasury, but it is certainly far from being too strong a blow for its stability, at least as long as it continues to provide well to the vast majority of mid-range phones and high that run the Android operating system, which in sum are many (most of the market in fact).