"WLS launched a 4G baseband chip, which is extremely surprising."
"Although we are no strangers to the name WLS. When it was still owned by Infineon, it once occupied 18% of the global baseband market share in 2008. However, after it was sold, the market share continued to languish. As of
In October this year, less than 5% remained, still dominated by the mid- to low-end."
"For this former Infineon wireless communication solutions business unit, the industry has rated the buyer and seller. Infineon, which has shed its burden, can get an S, while the buyer, mainly Yike, can only get an S.
To the disappointing C.”
"We understand what Yike, Samsung, and Apple want to do, but when Yike and Apple are equipped with Qualcomm chips, Samsung, which subsequently withdrew, seems to be more interested in opposing Qualcomm's injustice, and it chose to join forces with Intel
, use the actual actions of the flagship machine to maintain progress."
"But the conference at the end of October changed everything."
"A number of mobile phone evaluation agencies have compared the flagship models of Yike, Apple, and Samsung. In particular, the network speed involved in the baseband chip has been repeatedly verified, and an answer has been generally recognized."
"According to tests in many regions of the United States and Canada, under the same LTE network, the actual download speed of Mars is about 4MB, the iPhone is about 6MB, and Trump is about 5MB."
"In terms of hardware, Qualcomm's MDM9615M baseband chip is used as the standard. It supports a maximum theoretical speed of 100Mbps, which translates into an actual download speed of 5MB."
"That is, the performance of Zhurong 04S is about 90% of Qualcomm's baseband, and the Intel baseband used by Samsung is about 82% of Qualcomm's."
"Qualcomm's baseband products are a model in the industry. Although Yike has made breakthroughs in this area, it still lags behind in terms of data. As for Intel... it should probably withdraw from this field as soon as possible."
"However, the difference in network speed caused by the chip has not greatly affected consumers' choices. We have noticed that people tend to weigh issues such as full screen, photography, and price."
"Qualcomm has launched a lawsuit against Yike. It has not taken any action against WLS yet, but after China's regulatory authorities and Apple, Intel seems to be ready to take action."
"We have not seen Yike and Fang Zhuo's statements on this matter. We can only know from Cook's mouth that he is definitely not taking any action."
"Qualcomm has been sued repeatedly by different manufacturers in the past ten years. This is not without reason."
"We are not sure yet whether this will be a turning point in Qualcomm's development, because the war has not really started yet."
The latest issue of the Wall Street Journal has a cover story about the dispute between Yike and Qualcomm. The two companies are on the left and right. Yike on the left has vague logos of Apple, Hon Hai, Wistron and other companies, and there are three in the middle.
The blacked-out word "Go!Go!Go!".
Many domestic portals reprinted this report. Penguin translated the title as "Fuck it! Fuck it! Fuck it!" and then changed the translation after realizing something and re-translated it to "Sue it! Sue it!"
Sue it!".
Qualcomm filed a patent lawsuit against Yike, but Yike has never been a kind person. According to the overt and covert opinions of many media, Mr. Fang should have immediately launched a countersuit on the first day he was sued...
Thinking about it this way, maybe Qualcomm's patents are too powerful.
So, whether to sue or not...
In fact, Fang Zhuo himself and Yike have not completely decided internally.
On November 8, he put the "Wall Street Journal" from the previous two days on the table at a special meeting: "The outside world seems to be more anxious than us. Are we going to go or not?"
"This is because Qualcomm is acting too domineeringly. Regardless of Nokia, Samsung or Intel, Apple, including us, have all suffered from it." Yu Hong attended the meeting. "The question now is, how many companies are willing to truly stand up for themselves?"
After all, no matter what, Qualcomm’s own standard essential patents cannot be bypassed.”
Fang Zhuo nodded slightly. This is a problem. Although Yike has developed a patent portfolio through both research and purchase and mutual licensing, even if it really settles with Qualcomm, it still needs to make up part of the technology license fee.
This is true for Yike, which is developing rapidly and laying out its plans in advance, not to mention other companies.
"Mr. Fang, Qualcomm's patent litigation will only be a bargaining tool. It has no reason to really seek to ban the sale of our products on the market." American Vice President Schroeder attended the meeting online and expressed his views.
"One of the problems now is that many people also think that domestic antitrust investigations, communication with Apple, and WLS chips are also bargaining tools between us and Qualcomm." European President Pan Ben was also online, "This is still relatively subtle.
of."
Normally, this is a dispute between Yike and Qualcomm. It is common sense to negotiate with each other. However, Qualcomm has offended too many companies in the past and the situation was too ugly. Only Apple has clearly stood up because it urgently wants to end it.
A situation that is being checked and balanced by Qualcomm.
When Apple first released the iPhone in 2007, it used the baseband provided by Samsung, which was also from Infineon. However, due to poor performance, it had to switch to Qualcomm.
However, Qualcomm's contract with Apple clarifies the conditions for exclusive supply.
In recent years, especially since Cook took office, Apple has been adding suppliers to strengthen competition among them and drive down the cost of parts. The number of suppliers has increased from 150 to about 360.
However, Qualcomm not only supplies it exclusively, but also patents both, which puts Apple at a loss.
Fang Zhuo still nodded, and then looked at Matthews, the vice president of the legal department. Professional advice was still needed to handle this matter.
If you don’t make a counterclaim, you can negotiate the price. If you make a counterclaim, you can still negotiate the price. As for... is there any deeper strategic goal...
"Mr. Fang, I support initiating an antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm in California." Matthews did not attend the meeting online. He flew from New York specifically this time and just arrived in Shanghai yesterday. He unexpectedly made it clear
attitude, "In the past few years, Nokia in Europe and Broadcom in the United States, these lawsuits have been close to success, but in the end they all ended in settlements or fines. As you and Cook said, we have the ability to push forward
A situation that is good for us."
Qualcomm has already had similar cases in two major markets, and this month it just added an antitrust investigation in this important market in China.
"No matter how it is defined, Qualcomm has essentially formed a 'patent hijacking', which has violated the FRAND principle and has the basis for launching a siege in the industry." Matthews talked about the second point.
The so-called patent hijacking is when technology holders ask for exorbitant prices for patents that have been incorporated into standards to obtain license fees that exceed their patented technology contributions.
"On the other hand, if Qualcomm wants to prove our 'patent reverse hijacking', it will be difficult because we are already prepared." This is not the first time Matthews has discussed this with Mr. Fang. He has been brewing with Mr. Fang since the baseband breakthrough.
Qualcomm battle.
He added: "Patent hijacking is relatively common in the industry. Although reverse hijacking exists, it is not yet recognized."
"The most important thing is that there is a bit of heated discussion in the United States right now about the scope of application of the Exhaustion Doctrine or the First Sale Doctrine." Matthews said seriously, "We have a chance.
We strive to make Qualcomm’s clause applicable after multiple rounds of litigation.”
The principle of exhaustion of rights or the principle of first sale means that once a patented product or a product directly obtained based on a patented method is legally sold, the patentee and its legal authorizer lose the right to use and resell the product.
Control.
To put it simply, Qualcomm has already sold the baseband chips to manufacturers, so it should not use the patents contained in the baseband to make secondary charges.
"The problem now is that this point is quite controversial. Not only the United States, but also many countries have protection for their own technological development." Matthews said, "Even the international standard TRIPS agreement, it is in Article 28
The article also avoids issues such as 'international exhaustion' in the exhaustion of patent rights."
He left time for the company's bosses to digest, and said with great enthusiasm: "We definitely have the opportunity to help confirm the two principles of 'absolute exhaustion' and 'international exhaustion' of patent rights by initiating an antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm."