Chinese court issues a preliminary injunction against Apple for infringing Qualcomm patents, banning sale and import of iPhones 6s to X in China; Apple appeals
Context & Ripple Effects
This injunction is the payoff of a litigation campaign Qualcomm opened more than a year earlier, when it filed suit in China seeking to block iPhone sales and manufacturing after the two companies' licensing dispute turned hostile. Qualcomm ran the same play on a second front, asking the US ITC to ban imports of Intel-modem iPhones over six non-standard-essential patents.
The Chinese ruling converts those filings into an enforceable sales ban covering every iPhone from the 6s to the X, and Apple's appeal keeps the dispute open. Days later the pattern repeats in Europe, where Apple pulls iPhone 7 and 8 from its German stores following a Munich court injunction for Qualcomm.
First-order effects
- Apple faces an immediate halt to legal sale and import of seven iPhone models in one of its largest markets, pending appeal of the preliminary injunction.
- Qualcomm gains concrete negotiating leverage: it can now point to enforced sales bans in China and Germany rather than unresolved patent claims.
Second-order effects
- Apple's options narrow to settlement or design workarounds — the ITC complaints targeted Intel-modem iPhones specifically, signaling that swapping component suppliers does not escape Qualcomm's patent claims.
- Other handset makers watching the campaign see that Qualcomm will litigate market-by-market, raising the cost of any licensee holding out on royalty terms.
Third-order effects
- If courts in major jurisdictions keep granting preliminary injunctions mid-dispute, patent holders gain a structural weapon: the ability to freeze a rival's flagship product before final rulings, shifting leverage in licensing negotiations industry-wide.
The trend: The Apple-Qualcomm fight shows chip licensors escalating royalty disputes into multi-jurisdictional product bans, making courtroom injunctions a standard opening move rather than a last resort.