Why Is Apple Killing The iPhone 8?

4264
SHARE

That seemed to be the implication of the Qualcomm release last week where they had filed with the ITC, (International Trade Commission) for a limited ban on iPhone 8 sales.  While Qualcomm is apparently working hard not to piss off the millions of iPhone users in the US the ITC is a regulatory agency and doesn’t work for either Qualcomm or Apple and could, all on their own, decide to block sales of the iPhone 8 and all other infringing Apple products (pretty much all the iPhones) if they determine Qualcomm is correct and that Apple is basically stealing Qualcomm’s intellectual property.

I’m struggling with Apple’s strategy here because they appear to be betting that they can get a very short term competitive advantage from the courts but the risk of failure could exceed half of their valuation.  This would be like betting your house against the chance of paying sales tax on your groceries for a month.  The effort seems so brain dead stupid I’m struggling with why Apple attacked Qualcomm in the first place.  Given their cash reserves, their inability to figure out what to do with them, and the current Trump administrations pro-business stance a far less risky path would have likely been to just try and buy Qualcomm.