The US Supreme Court will not hear Apple’s complaint about Qualcomm’s patent, but will this be the last we hear?
Apple and Qualcomm may reach corporate detention in 2019, but they have been embroiled in a legal dispute over patents for years. Apple’s latest attempt to keep the dispute active has failed: earlier this week, The The Supreme Court of the United States Apple has declined a request for a hearing on the matter. At least until Apple and Qualcomm’s current licensing system runs its course it looks like it will run a partnership through the heart of this legal vampire.
Originally, Qualcomm wanted to boost sales of most of Apple’s mobile devices. It never happened, obviously. But the news of Apple’s latest failure should come as a bit of a surprise to those who are keeping an eye on the activities. The 2019 settlement allowed a lawsuit to go before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Since then, Apple has introduced a steady rate streak. Apple lost its USPTO trial and appeal and took the matter to Federal Circuit Court, where it also lost.
Apple had hoped that the Supreme Court would consider its appeal on the grounds that Qualcomm could grant arms to patents once its current license expires. In May, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), under the Biden administration, opposed Apple’s request. The Supreme Court took their advice and denied Apple’s request. This particular line of legal effort should be closed, at least until the current federal license is rejected until the current license expires – 2025 or 2027, depending on whether the two parties choose to extend it.
Apple’s move towards seller-independence
Apple’s continued wrestling with Qualcomm reflects the company’s efforts to control its own stack from the chip. Apple says customers will benefit from Apple’s strict end-to-end control over hardware and software performance, reliability, efficiency and security.
Evidence of pudding is in the eating, it is said, and Apple has distributed spades based on the performance benchmarks of new devices. But there are other practical reasons why consumers want to exclude anyone from the tech behemoth company’s huge supply chain.
To that end, Apple is continuing its efforts despite the Qualcomm patent issue. Apple acquired the lion’s share of Intel’s 5G smartphone modem business in 2019 And rumors have been circulating ever since that Apple is going to launch its own smartphone modem solution To date, Apple has not. Recent rumors point to 2023 as the most probable deadline But in light of Apple’s growing System on a Chip (SOC) development cadence, it seems just a matter of time before Apple Silicon manages to perform radio duty even among Apple devices.
Elsewhere in Apple’s product line, the company’s multi-year Macintosh metamorphosis is more or less complete, from Intel-based microprocessors to Apple’s M1 and M2 SoCs. And the more Apple controls the hardware it uses to make the device, the more pressure it can put on its supply chain to maintain its famous gross margin, even as economic instability and constant supply chain problems affect businesses worldwide.
While Apple wants to control its hardware designs more than ever, it wants to see its software running on more devices. Devices with four wheels, however: Last month, at its annual developer conference, Apple introduced a new version of CarPlay that rearranges your dash with custom instrumentation and coloring (with vendor-permission, of course). Apple says several prestigious and mainstream auto makers will introduce new vehicles to support the capabilities.
The new carplay is an unexpected drama for Apple. The company infamously keeps its cards off its vest until it is ready to play its hand. Apple rarely, if ever, announces more than a few weeks before launching a product. This time, Apple says, cars that support this feature will also not be announced until the end of 2023. And almost in terms of the Glacier’s automated production cycle, it’s still a very open question when we’ll see this new carpet on the road. .
With any luck, we will write the denoument of Apple / Qualcomm saga by then.