- Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) legal falling out also included a software dispute, according to internal emails from 2017 that was obtained by Bloomberg.
- The emails between Apple exec Jeff Williams and Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf show that Williams was willing to dismiss the license concerns to keep QCOM modems in the 2018 iPhones.
- Qualcomm accused Apple of leaking code needed to customize chips, which Apple denied with Williams offering to "firewall" engineers to reassure Qualcomm.
- Mollenkopf said he was primarily concerned with Qualcomm's IP and wasn't impressed with Apple's response to the code complaints. But he agreed to provide the software if Apple committed to QCOM modem chips in at least 50% of iPhones over two years.
- In court on Friday, the FTC confronted Qualcomm CTO James Thompson about a 2014 email exchange with Mollenkopf where he suggested "striking back at Apple while we’re strong" in the licensing talks.