As the heated legal saga between Apple and Qualcomm only continues to intensify, the California chipmaker is now insisting that after asking Chinese courts to impose an all-out iPhone ban in the region, it won’t rule out imposing Chinese civil procedure to fine or detain legal representatives from Apple for disobeying the sales ban, according to Global Times China.

Further, the company is said to be dissatisfied with Apple’s flippancy towards the Chinese injunction as compared to the recent German one, which saw Apple immediately ban sales of iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in the country.

Last week, Apple quickly pushed out its iOS 12.1.2 release — and while that might have introduced new bugs, it was intended as Apple’s way of circumventing the recent Chinese injunction imposed on iPhone devices, which ruled most iPhone models to be banned for sale in the country.

Qualcomm was far from happy with Apple’s software update response and is accusing the company of not treating the Chinese ruling as seriously as they are the German injunction. The Chinese ruling accuses Apple of infringing on software based patents; the German ruling is based on physical hardware infringements.

As a result, Apple believes they have more leverage in the software matter to address the situation with greater feasibility rather than physically retooling multiyear old devices.

Last week, after the release of the iOS 12.1.2 update, Qualcomm had the following to say about Apple’s decision to continue selling iPhones in the country without permission from the chipmaker:

Just days later, Qualcomm’s General Counsel Don Rosenberg said in a statement:

“Apple’s statements following the issuance of the preliminary injunction have been deliberate attempts to obfuscate and misdirect,” Qualcomm’s Rosenberg said in a statement

When asked by Reuters, Apple said they believe they are in full compliance with the ruling, as again, the original ruling only specifies software related functionality address in the latest update.

What do you think about Qualcomm’s latest threat? Do you think the hardball played by the San Fransisco chipmaker has paid off well? Discuss in the comments below!

  • China grants iPhone import and sale ban over Qualcomm dispute, but Apple seemingly has a workaround [U]
  • Qualcomm now tries to get this year’s iPhones banned in China through 2nd injunction
  • Comment: Qualcomm is playing ridiculously high-stakes poker as iPhones pulled from sale
  • Qualcomm slams Apple’s response to iPhone ban in China, says it should be ‘taking a bite out of sales’
  • Qualcomm accuses Apple of violating iPhone sales ban in China, despite today’s iOS 12.1.2 release