Apple

Forget the unreasonable royalties, Qualcomm wants to charge Apple contractors $1.3 billion in "processing and handling" fees

by Georgi Zarkov / Feb 22, 2019, 3:39 AM

Forget the unreasonable royalties, Qualcomm wants to charge Apple contractors $1.3 billion in

The relationship between Apple and Qualcomm is getting worse by the minute. What started with patent disputes now appears to have become an all-out legal war, with Qualcomm trying to hit Apple and its partners with all the lawsuits its legal team can think of.

Just yesterday, we told you about the unusual royalty fees Qualcomm is demanding from the money Apple was paying its assemblers for repairs and recycling. You may have thought that’s a bit over-the-top, but not Qualcomm! The chip maker went even further!

It took a deeper dive into the pretrial brief submitted to California’s district court (embedded in the article linked above) to find the more absurd demand Qualcomm is making. In the paragraph pictured below, it is stated that Qualcomm has “asserted” that Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron, the companies responsible for assembling the majority of Apple’s products, owe Qualcomm more than $1.3 billion in what the company calls “late charges”.

These so-called late charges, according to Qualcomm, are to cover the cost involved in the processing and handling of late payments by the contractors. And you thought the fees online ticket resellers are charging are exuberant!

Basically, Qualcomm is implying that the time its accountants spent processing a few payments cost the company $1.3 billion. Now, we’ve heard that good accountants are worth their weight in gold, but Qualcomm’s must be made of actual diamonds if their time is worth that much.

Of course, any reasonable judge will dismiss such demand almost immediately or force Qualcomm to adjust the number to something reasonable. Still, the fact that it made it there in the first place shows Qualcomm’s approach to these lawsuits: throw everything you can and see what will stick.

It appears we’re far from seeing the end of the Apple - Qualcomm court disputes. If the demands continue to escalate at that rate, we can’t wait to hear what the next case will be about.

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11 Comments

1. notfair

Posts: 755; Member since: Jan 30, 2017

Go f**k yourself Qualcomm this coming from an android fan.

posted on Feb 22, 2019, 3:48 AM 3

5. IT-Engineer

Posts: 566; Member since: Feb 26, 2015

Why? Didn't Apple ask the same unreasonable crap from Samsung regarding the rounded icons and slide to unlock? Karma is good, don't you agree? @phoneArenaModerators... Go Ahead, delete this comment too like you did the other article, #freeSpeechIsDead

posted on Feb 22, 2019, 5:35 AM 13

6. ShadowSnypa786

Posts: 593; Member since: Jan 06, 2017

Agree if Apple could take hundred's of millions from Samsung for something as rounded icons then this is fair. Every android OEM has rounded icons and slide to unlock now but only Samsung got taken to court obviously because they are Apple's biggest competitiors.

posted on Feb 22, 2019, 6:52 AM 3

7. lyndon420

Posts: 6823; Member since: Jul 11, 2012

HTC got hit pretty hard with Apple bs as well.

posted on Feb 22, 2019, 7:30 AM 0

8. blingblingthing

Posts: 975; Member since: Oct 23, 2012

Same thing I was thinking. When Apple was doing this, Apple fans were down with this.

posted on Feb 22, 2019, 9:21 AM 1

12. domfonusr

Posts: 1087; Member since: Jan 17, 2014

Just because Apple got away with it when they did it, does not mean that Qualcomm is off the hook for this disgusting garbage. Apple will have their day of reckoning at some point (perhaps), but today is Qualcomm's day of reckoning... Yes, I know that is a double-standard, but these are the cards we've now been dealt. I still want to hear Qualcomm's side of it - hopefully we will get that at some point, too. I'm just glad that I don't have to be the one who decides what happens here, because I'm kinda ticked at both Qualcomm and Apple for getting us, one way or another, to this point... There is just so much money to be made here, that these giants are tripping all over each other to get into everybody's pockets and wallets... and now the lawyers are going to take a dip, too!

posted on Feb 22, 2019, 4:11 PM 0

2. Shkselectah

Posts: 47; Member since: Jun 26, 2018

Apple gets what he deserves. Become a patent trolls but karma will return you all

posted on Feb 22, 2019, 3:50 AM 11

3. shiv179

Posts: 176; Member since: Aug 08, 2012

LMAO!

posted on Feb 22, 2019, 5:03 AM 5

9. shm224

Posts: 295; Member since: Mar 19, 2015

I don't get it. Am I the only one to find it strange that PhoneArena is upset because there are penalty/late fee clauses in business contracts? If I'm late on my TMobile payment, I'd have to pay $5, or 1.5% on balance, as late fee. After some grace period, TMobile can terminate my service if I still don't pay up. Apple's CMs (contract manufacturers) have INTENTIONALLY REFUSED to pay Qualcomm for well over a year now under Apple's instruction, in malice, willful effort to pressure the company to giving in financially. Are we supposed to get outraged because Qualcomm contract requires Apple's CMs to pay on time?

posted on Feb 22, 2019, 10:00 AM 3

10. NarutoKage14

Posts: 1327; Member since: Aug 31, 2016

Apple needs to lose this. They signed a legal contract and now they don't want to pay the money they owe and stole some of the tech. If Apple wins this they will be emboldened to steal tech from more companies because they know the courts will not punish them.