The iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, and 8 Plus are once again available in Germany, after a patent dispute forced apple to withdraw the sale of the phones at the beginning of January (via The Wall Street Journal). In a statement, the company said that “to ensure all iPhone models can again be available to customers in Germany, we have no choice but to stop using Intel chips and ship our phones with Qualcomm chips in Germany.”
The workaround mirrors a move by the company in China, where Apple released a software update in the region which tweaked one of its animations in an attempt to circumvent the sales ban. Qualcomm had previously won a court injunction which banned Apple from importing some older iPhone models in the country.
Apple’s dispute with Qualcomm in Germany is just one of the many legal battles the two companies are involved in worldwide, with cases pending in Germany, China, and the US. The dispute dates back to 2017 complaint filed by Apple in which it accused Qualcomm of charging unfair prices for its modem chips.
This article is from The Verge
