Qualcomm sues the world's fourth largest smartphone maker

Qualcomm - the world's leading chip supplier, has just sued Transsion Holdings, one of the world's largest low-cost smartphone manufacturers, for patent infringement.

According to the latest report from IP Fray on LinkedIn, Qualcomm is suing Transsion Holdings over four non-standard essential patents. This is a notable move because Qualcomm rarely gets involved in lawsuits like this. Normally, Qualcomm will only take advantage of the supply of processing chips and the dependence of many other companies on these chips to sign licensing agreements when patents are infringed.

However, with Transsion, Qualcomm did not choose that. According to WinFuture, Transsion Holdings has not sold any smartphones using Qualcomm chips.

According to Statista, despite being the world's fourth largest smartphone manufacturer in 2024, Transsion currently mainly uses MediaTek chips and some Unisoc chips to equip its smartphone products.

Meanwhile, the top three manufacturers, Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi, are all currently using Snapdragon chips. Although Apple has developed its own A-series chips for use on its iPhone lines, it still uses Snapdragon 5G modems provided by Qualcomm.

Snapdragon chips have been used in a number of devices in the past, but none are currently on sale. Transsion Holdings' brands including Itel, Infinix and Tecno have grown rapidly in the low- and mid-range segments over the past few years, without relying on Qualcomm.

The lawsuit could force Transsion Holdings to pay licensing fees to Qualcomm, but it’s unclear how that will affect the company. Given its focus on low-end smartphones, any cut in profits could be a major blow to Transsion.

The Financial Times also reported that Transsion is being sued by Phillips and that Nokia is allegedly pressuring Transsion to pay for the use of patented technology in its smartphones. In the report, a Transsion spokesperson said the company has "signed a 5G standard patent licensing agreement with Qualcomm" and is "in the process of implementing that agreement."

Source: https://laodong.vn/the-gioi-so/qualcomm-khoi-kien-nha-san-xuat-smartphone-lon-thu-4-the-gioi-1366362.ldo