Qualcomm asks US ITC to ban imports of certain iPhone models using Intel components due to infringement of 6 patents that it claims are not standard-essential
Chipmaker claims infringement by some models and seeks ‘cease and desist’ order — Read next
Context & Ripple Effects
This filing converts a plan into action: Bloomberg reported in May that Qualcomm was preparing an ITC request to halt iPhone imports as part of its licensing fight with Apple, and the complaint now targets six patents Qualcomm says are not standard-essential — a deliberate choice, since non-SEPs let it attack Intel's components directly rather than argue over fair licensing terms.
The choice of venue matters as much as the claim: an ITC exclusion order blocks imports at the border, hitting Apple's US supply chain without going through normal courts. The escalation did not stay domestic — Qualcomm later took the same fight to Apple's largest market with a patent lawsuit in China seeking to ban iPhone sales, and by late 2018 a Chinese court granted a preliminary injunction blocking iPhone 6S-through-X sales there.
First-order effects
- Apple faces a credible threat that certain iPhone models using Intel modems could be barred from US import, making Intel's components — not just Apple's licensing bill — the direct target.
- Qualcomm shifts its dispute with Apple from royalty negotiations to supply-chain interdiction, raising the cost of Apple's move toward Intel-sourced chips.
Second-order effects
- Apple is pressured to either settle with Qualcomm or accelerate qualification of alternative modem suppliers, since every Intel-based iPhone shipped into the US carries ban risk.
- Qualcomm demonstrates a repeatable playbook — file at the ITC, then mirror the attack in other jurisdictions — which it exercised with the December follow-on complaints seeking another ITC ban on Intel-chip iPhones.
Third-order effects
- If exclusion orders keep proving effective leverage, import bans become a standard weapon in component-level patent disputes, letting dominant chipmakers tax competitors' design wins rather than compete for them.
- Regulators and trade bodies face growing pressure to scrutinize ITC exclusion orders sought on non-standard-essential patents, since the mechanism aimed at Intel here bypasses the FRAND framework built for SEPs.
The trend: Patent disputes between chipmakers are migrating from royalty litigation toward multi-jurisdiction import bans aimed at each other's customers, with the ITC and foreign courts as parallel pressure points.