In case you don't know, Apple and Qualcomm are currently locked in a massive legal dispute, where Qualcomm has accused the Cupertino giant of committing multiple patent violations.
That dispute spilled over in China, where Qualcomm earned a massive victory, after a Chinese court banned the sale of iPhones in the country for intellectual property violations.
Reuters
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According to a Qualcomm statement, the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court in China found Apple guilty of infringing two patents held by Qualcomm, ordering an immediate ban on sales of older iPhone models, right from the iPhone 6S till the iPhone X.
This is a massive dent in Apple's hopes of selling iPhones in China -- which happens to be its biggest growth market in the world -- at a time when Apple is already struggling to sell new iPhones.
Reuters
According to Reuters,?Apple has also filed for a reconsideration by the court, starting a process of arguing against the ban which will drag on till the Chinese Supreme Court.
It's almost unlikely that this court verdict will make a huge dent in Apple's sales in China, as the implementation of the ban is still being figured out, and China-based intellectual property lawyers told Reuters that there's nothing stopping Apple from selling iPhones until the issue is being contested in court.
Reuters
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If anything, this China ban on iPhones may ultimately be the first step towards an out of court settlement between Apple and Qualcomm sometime next year.
Apple's latest iPhones -- the iPhone XR, iPhone XS & XS Max -- released earlier this year aren't part of the world's biggest mobile chipmaker, Qualcomm's lawsuit accusing Apple of stealing multiple of its patents.