Qualcomm is taking its battle with Apple to the next level.
The chipmaker has leveled explosive accusations against the iPhone maker in their ongoing lawsuit. According to CNBC, Qualcomm is seeking to add new charges against Apple that allege the company stole "vast swaths" of trade secrets and confidential information in an effort to improve the performance of Intel chips, a major rival of Qualcomm.
Qualcomm accuses Apple of breaking a master software agreement Apple signed when it began working with Qualcomm to provide parts for the iPhone.
In the new set of charges, Qualcomm claims Apple violated their agreement and provided trade secrets to competitor Intel to help it "overcome engineering flaws in its chips" resulting in poor performance in iPhones. Qualcomm doesn't provide any evidence of the alleged misdeed but does say it discovered evidence of Apple engineers provided Intel engineers with the information.
Earlier this year, Qualcomm CFO George Davis confirmed the working relationship between Apple and Qualcomm was over. Apple is strictly using Intel modems for its new iPhone XS, XS Max and XR.
The legal battle between the two companies has been going on for years now. Apple first sued Qualcomm for $1 billion in January 2017 for unfair business practices and Qualcomm responded in kind with a counter lawsuit alleging Apple failed to pay royalties. Subsequent back and forth legal power moves were made but this latest one from Qualcomm seems to be the strongest yet.
Qualcomm has been embroiled in legal battles with regulatory bodies in the US, Europe and Taiwan for unfair business practices in trying to establish a monopoly. It was fined $1.2 billion by the European Commission for buying its way into the iPhone in 2011.
