Apple Will Update iPhones in China to Avoid a Ban on Sales

Don Rosenberg, Qualcomm’s executive vice president and general counsel, said in a statement that Apple was already violating the court’s order.

“They are legally obligated to immediately cease sales, offers for sale and importation of the devices identified in the orders and to prove compliance in court,” he said. Qualcomm this week asked Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court to enforce its injunction.

Apple also asked the court to reconsider its ruling. The company told the court it made about $13.3 billion on iPhone sales in China in the first quarter of 2018, meaning it would lose millions of dollars a day if it had to stop selling certain phones in the country.

The court’s preliminary injunction barred Apple from selling the iPhone 6S, the iPhone 6S Plus, the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus, the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X in China. The ruling did not apply to Apple’s three newest iPhones: the XS, the XS Max and the XR.

A lawyer for Qualcomm in China told the Financial Times this week that the company would also seek bans on sales of Apple’s newest iPhones, claiming they were also infringing Qualcomm’s patents.