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In an interview today with Mad Money's Jim Cramer, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared some details about the company's ongoing legal battle with Qualcomm.

Despite rumors of settlement talks, Cook says that Apple has not been in any settlement discussions with Qualcomm since the third calendar quarter of last year. And in response to a question about whether Apple will cave and enter into a settlement with Qualcomm given the import bans in China and Germany, Cook said "no."

qualcomm-iphone-7.jpg

He then went on to blast Qualcomm for its pricing and licensing practices, calling them "illegal," and he commented on Qualcomm's tactic of spreading fake news, calling it "not how things should operate" and saying it "should be beneath companies."
The issues that we have with Qualcomm is that they have a policy of no license, no chips. This is, in our view, illegal. And so many regulators in many different countries agree with this. And then secondly, the obligation to offer their patent portfolio on a fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory basis. And they don't do that. They charge exorbitant prices. And they have a lot of different tactics they use to do that. And that's not just us saying that. I mean, you can see what's coming out of the FTC trial here in the United States.
Apple and Qualcomm have been involved in an increasingly bitter legal battle since 2017. Qualcomm has resorted to filing lawsuits against Apple for patent infringement and has won preliminary import bans against older iPhones in China and Germany.

The FTC's antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm kicked off this week, with the FTC claiming, like Apple, that Qualcomm has used its position and portfolio of patents to impose anticompetitive supply and licensing terms on manufacturers.

Article Link: Apple's Legal Dispute With Qualcomm to Continue as Tim Cook Says Claims of Settlement Talks Are False
 
All this money spent on lawsuits and what does it get anybody? My husband’s XS Max can’t get signal inside parts of his office building and his much cheaper Pixel 3XL can.

Everyone else sucks it up and uses Qualcomm because they currently offer the best modems. Apple has to go and spend money on lawsuits and go with alternatives like Intel and possibly someday, God help us, Mediatek. We don’t like paying premium prices on a phone only to see a cheaper phone outperform it with a more premium quality component.
 
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I sympathize with what you're saying Grumpy. I'd rather have Qualcomm modems on my Xr as well - although it works good enough for me (no issues on T-Mobile in Chicago but I've been watching), Intel modems certainly are not what I'd choose (we had a Qualcomm 8 Plus and Intel 8 last year so you could see some performance difference).

And yeah Mediatek, um Apple don't forget / don't leave Intel. ;-) Seems the best we can hope for are the lawsuits to get resolved (which will take a while), but even then it seems a really long, long shot for Apple to start using Qualcomm again (JMHO), even though I'd rather have Apple use them.
 
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The issues that we have with Qualcomm is that they have a policy of no license, no chips

Sorta like a policy of "No 30% App Store revenue sharing, no apps"
 
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Tim Cook spitting out the sentence “They charge exorbitant prices” made me almost piss my piss laughing. Ever seen a mirror Tim?
 
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The issues that we have with Qualcomm is that they have a policy of no license, no chips

Sorta like a policy of "No 30% App Store revenue sharing, no apps"
you just compared apples to oranges

a more apt comparison would be trying to buy a car but being forced to also pay for the right to drive the car. otherwise, you’re not allowed to buy the car.

as for the app store, if you want to sell it in their store they take a cut of the revenue for distributing the app and handling payment, just like your grocery store that sells their “generic” brand next to the “premium” third-party brands. those third-parties pay the store a percent of their sales for stocking their product and selling it for them. this allows generic brands to typically sell their product at cheaper prices
 
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Why are apples prices exorbitant when the competition is right up there? Some of Samsung’s new phones will be right up there as well.

You’re joking right? If not, first thing, Apple hiked prices first and then Samsung (and industry) followed suit. If your neighbor sold their home for 30% above market, wouldn’t you try and do the same? I don’t blame Samsung as much as Apple since that screen and technology that Apple has in their phone is licensed by Samsung patent. Second, Apple has raised prices on nearly every product the make with next to no changes or minimal upgrades. There is a difference between upgrade in technology YOY versus “innovation”. You don’t see Jon Ivy taking these interviews with NBC Business and the WSJ, etc. because innovation hasn’t happened in quite some time.
 
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All this money spent on lawsuits and what does it get anybody? My husband’s XS Max can’t get signal inside parts of his office building and his much cheaper Pixel 3XL can.

I used an Xs for 10 days and could get signal everywhere just fine, like my X does.
And I don't care how good Qualcomm's chipset is. The moment they start playing games, they are out. Kudos to Apple for taking the business somewhere else and not dealing/being intimidated by these crocks. And I believe it would be a matter of time before Apple makes it's own in house modems.
 
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Sorta like a policy of "No 30% App Store revenue sharing, no apps"

Complete delusion / fantasy. There are plenty of apps in the App Store that don’t share 30%. If what you imagine was actually true, Netflix would have been immediately banned the moment they stopped offering in app purchases.
 
You’re joking right? If not, first thing, Apple hiked prices first and then Samsung (and industry) followed suit. If your neighbor sold their home for 30% above market, wouldn’t you try and do the same? I don’t blame Samsung as much as Apple since that screen and technology that Apple has in their phone is licensed by Samsung patent. Second, Apple has raised prices on nearly every product the make with next to no changes or minimal upgrades. There is a difference between upgrade in technology YOY versus “innovation”. You don’t see Jon Ivy taking these interviews with NBC Business and the WSJ, etc. because innovation hasn’t happened in quite some time.
No, not joking. If last year a dozen eggs cost three dollars and this year the same eggs cost four dollars. The price of eggs were raised. However if instead this year the egg manufacturer sold 18 eggs for $4.50 would you still say the price off eggs were raised?

Whether you agree or line it Apple has been throwing more tech in phones and charging more accordingly.

And as far as why Jony Ive doesn’t take interviews it’s all conjecture.
 
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Why are apples prices exorbitant when the competition is right up there? Some of Samsung’s new phones will be right up there as well.

LOL. Did you ever had to compare the prices for a family member who asked you if they should buy a Mac?

Let's take the Mac Mini for instance. Starting at $800! You can get an entry mini Windows PC for homer server usage for $200! A decent mini home computer cost just $300 and for $400 you can get a great mini PC with all bells, whistles and ports.

Now lets' check an ultrabook. The MacBook Air is starting at $1600 if you don't consider the embarrassing 128 and 256 Gig options. You can get an affordable ultrabook in the $700-$800 range, and a pretty decent one for up to $1000. For $1200-$1400 you can get a really really great ultrabook. If you really need a beast of a machine you can get if for $1600-$2000 and there is nothing that Apple offers in that high range.

Now let's see the Mac Pro. Well, it still sells for $3000 despite its five year old. Five years! If you compare it to a workstation or gaming PC with same outdated specs you would spend not more than $500 on eBay. For $1000 you can get really good Windows PCs for semi pro work or heavy home use. Really great powerful workstations come for $1600-$2500 depending on the use case.
 
LOL. Did you ever had to compare the prices for a family member who asked you if they should buy a Mac?

Let's take the Mac Mini for instance. Starting at $800! You can get an entry mini Windows PC for homer server usage for $200! A decent mini home computer cost just $300 and for $400 you can get a great mini PC with all bells, whistles and ports.

Now lets' check an ultrabook. The MacBook Air is starting at $1600 if you don't consider the embarrassing 128 and 256 Gig options. You can get an affordable ultrabook in the $700-$800 range, and a pretty decent one for up to $1000. For $1200-$1400 you can get a really really great ultrabook. If you really need a beast of a machine you can get if for $1600-$2000 and there is nothing that Apple offers in that high range.

Now let's see the Mac Pro. Well, it still sells for $3000 despite its five year old. Five years! If you compare it to a workstation or gaming PC with same outdated specs you would spend not more than $500 on eBay. For $1000 you can get really good Windows PCs for semi pro work or heavy home use. Really great powerful workstations come for $1600-$2500 depending on the use case.
I have three MacBook airs in the house. Now what’s the point of this? The expense of macs vs windows boxes? They are, no doubt.
 
I have three MacBook airs in the house. Now what’s the point of this? The expense of macs vs windows boxes? They are, no doubt.

You said Apple is not exorbitant expensive. I showed same specs alternatives for was less money.
 
I knowpatent stuff is complicated.
Tim Cook spitting out the sentence “They charge exorbitant prices” made me almost piss my piss laughing. Ever seen a mirror Tim?


I know this patent dispute is complicated, but here goes. No one is forced to buy an iPhone; hence, Apple, Google, Samsung, etc., can all charge whatever they want and the free market decides the correct price. Not so with Qualcomm. Their technology was essentially adopted by the industry, so it became a "standard essential" patent which means that companies have no choice but to use it, so Qualcomm's prices must be FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory).

Qualcomm is being sued around the world because they have abused their monopoly position by 1) charging a percentage of the phone price, (which means they keep getting more money as companies add other technology, etc., to their phones despite the modem not adding any more value), and 2) Qualcomm has also been requiring companies to buy a separate license, in addition to the chip.

Qualcomm is going to lose on both counts. Remember, it's not just them vs. Apple. It's Qualcomm versus the FTC and regulators around the world, and Google, Amazon and Facebook are also supporting Apple in this dispute.
 
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I used an Xs for 10 days and could get signal everywhere just fine, like my X does.
And I don't care how good Qualcomm's chipset is. The moment they start playing games, they are out. Kudos to Apple for taking the business somewhere else and not dealing/being intimidated by these crocks. And I believe it would be a matter of time before Apple makes it's own in house modems.
Well I don’t know if you tested anywhere in circumstances that would show up the difference between a current Qualcomm modem and the Intel ones in the X and XS. But in some kinds of buildings and along certain commutes, there is a difference. As a customer, I DO care how good the modem chipset is. The fewer places I risk getting stuck without a signal the better. You’re thinking like an Apple investor and not like a customer.

******TL/DR follows****

This is not an important point to make but I’ll make it anyway: I don’t see how Qualcomm are any worse crooks than Apple, given some of the lawsuits and accusations I’ve seen leveled at Apple over the years on this forum.

Let’s not even get started on all the business Apple does with countries whose laws go against everything Apple is purported to stand for. That’s a bit of a tangent but I mention it to illustrate that they are all businesses out to maximize every dime they can get out of each other and their customers. None of them is a virtuous innocent.

I can see rooting for Apple over Qualcomm if you think it will result in prices coming down for us customers once Qualcomm’s “monopolistic” practice is ground to a halt. But so far Apple if Apple has passed along any savings as a result of switching to Intel and withholding payments to Qualcomm, well I certainly can’t tell.

My Xr performs well enough for my usual day’s demands. I got it for a good price. I’m happy being able to switch between it and my Android phones whenever I want or need to.

But at some point when my circumstances change, I do have to choose one, so I do hope Apple does come out with its own modem or makes Intel modems become better than Qualcomm modems.

A huge factor in my final choice will come down to which platform and which company offerse the best connectivity because that is for me, the value in a handheld computer/phone, its ability to smoothly connect me to others via voice, video and text.

Each year that passes, my family loses more and more of that Apple ecosystem, because either Apple itself decides to abandon a product or they make it a poor value for the money compared to the competition. I don’t want to see this happen with iPhones.

I like iPhones, but their relatively poor connectivity has been a thorn in my side for awhile now. I do not live in a city with good signal everywhere. I am out where there’s cows along the road and a lot of my commute is through areas of poor signal. My husband does work in a city and in thick concrete buildings and he needs a good modem, too.
 
You’re joking right? If not, first thing, Apple hiked prices first and then Samsung (and industry) followed suit. If your neighbor sold their home for 30% above market, wouldn’t you try and do the same? I don’t blame Samsung as much as Apple since that screen and technology that Apple has in their phone is licensed by Samsung patent. Second, Apple has raised prices on nearly every product the make with next to no changes or minimal upgrades. There is a difference between upgrade in technology YOY versus “innovation”. You don’t see Jon Ivy taking these interviews with NBC Business and the WSJ, etc. because innovation hasn’t happened in quite some time.

Apple margins are the same from 6-7 years , and quite lower than 8+ years ago. It’s numbers there is nothing to discuss about it. They make products that cost more to buy because they cost more to produce. Technologies, materials etc. It’s not greed when you make the same amount of money. If they are too expensive for your pockets I am sorry but it’s childish to say they raise price without reason.
 
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No, not joking. If last year a dozen eggs cost three dollars and this year the same eggs cost four dollars. The price of eggs were raised. However if instead this year the egg manufacturer sold 18 eggs for $4.50 would you still say the price off eggs were raised?

Whether you agree or line it Apple has been throwing more tech in phones and charging more accordingly.

And as far as why Jony Ive doesn’t take interviews it’s all conjecture.

What if I don’t want 18 eggs? I only wanted 12. The rest I will throw in the trash. OTOH, there was a seller selling me 18 eggs for 3 dollars, that’s where my money will go(Samsung).
 
What if I don’t want 18 eggs? I only wanted 12. The rest I will throw in the trash. OTOH, there was a seller selling me 18 eggs for 3 dollars, that’s where my money will go(Samsung).
You find another egg seller and since eggs have increased you pay the premium. You are not that sellers target customer.
 
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