Apple will once again begin selling their iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in Germany. The device will use Qualcomm modems in place of Intel chips, to avoid a ban in the country that is part of the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm.
Apple has announced that it will resume selling the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in Germany and will do so using only Qualcomm processors instead of the Intel ones previously used. It said it had “no choice” but to do this following a Munich court’s decision to ban sales of these models over a patent infringement case that Qualcomm won in December 2018.
The patent dispute is just a small part of the ongoing legal battle between Qualcomm and Apple which is being fought around the globe. This case centers on a Qualcomm claim that Apple supplier Qorvo has infringed its patents for modems. While Intel hasn’t been accused of infringing Qualcomm patents,. the Qorvo chip was used only in iPhone 7 and 8 models with the Intel modem.
Qorvo has told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that it is not infringing Qualcomm patents.