Qualcomm is asking courts in China to ban sales of Apple's latest iPhone XS and XR

After getting a favourable decision from a court in China to stop Apple from selling some of its iPhone models, chipmaker Qualcomm now wants the court to ban the sale of Apple’s latest models, the iPhone XS and the iPhone XR as well. The plea by the legal team representing Qualcomm is that the patent violation by Apple is applicable to the latest models too and these should also be included in the ban, as per a Reuters report. This may hit Apple more than the order on the older models since those numbers in terms of sales volumes may not add up to much.

On the ground, however, it is being claimed that Apple’s phones may continue to get sold and bought since it takes long for such court orders to be implemented.

The legal battle in the courts in China is part of a global dispute between the world’s top chipmaker and Apple over what Qualcomm claims are violations of its patents by Apple and there are many more lawsuits filed all over.

Apple, however, does not appear to be ruffled. It says its phones will continue to be sold and it is appealing against the verdict and if needed, take it right up to the Supreme Court in China. And as long as the cases are running in the courts, no practical ban can be imposed and enforced. Apple further claims that the three flagships it released this September, namely, the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max and the iPhone XR are out of the purview of the lawsuits pertaining to the patent violations charge.

Apple will otherwise be definitely concerned since three markets, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong alone contribute over 20% of its worldwide sales of iPhones and the amounts involved are indeed huge at about Rs 19 lakh crore in its most recent fiscal year.