by Jason Snell
Qualcomm and Apple bury the hatchet
Apple just released a PR statement indicating the end of hostilities with Qualcomm:
Qualcomm and Apple today announced an agreement to dismiss all litigation between the two companies worldwide. The settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm. The companies also have reached a six-year license agreement, effective as of April 1, 2019, including a two-year option to extend, and a multiyear chipset supply agreement.
This is pretty big news. Apple wasn’t able to use Qualcomm’s modem chips in its devices, with Apple turning to Intel for LTE modems and getting kind of desperate about what it would do in the 5G world. The two companies have been suing each other and throwing one another under the bus in the press, but it’s apparently all over now.
The agreement comes the day a trial began in San Diego pitting the two companies against each other, with an Apple attorney creating a labored metaphor about fried chicken and patents. Apparently the trial attorneys can make a KFC run now, because it’s all over.
(Update: And with that, Intel’s now out of the 5G modem game.)