LG was expected to launch its 5G smartphone known as V50ThinQ5G back in May this year but that did not happen. It later emerged that some disagreement with Qualcomm over chipset contract was responsible for the delay. Qualcomm and LG have now reached an agreement that gives the South Korean tech giant access to the Qualcomm’s 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular modem technologies.
LG’s current contract with Qualcomm is said to have expired 2018 and LG was looking to negotiate a new contract with the chipset maker on terms based on a recent court ruling which classified Qualcomm as a monopoly. However, Qualcomm filed an appeal to the antitrust ruling and so would not want to negotiate on that basis. Qualcomm’s appeal could linger and thus, force LG to enter into an unfair agreement with Qualcomm. For this reason, LG instituted another lawsuit in the US, which opposes Qualcomm’s decision to set aside the antitrust ruling. Part of the court filing read “If Qualcomm does not participate in negotiations with LG Electronics in accordance with the court’s order, LGE will have no option but to conclude license and chipset supply agreements once again on Qualcomm’s terms.”
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Apparently, both companies are agreeing to terms based on anti-trust court ruling but we can’t say how this will affect negotiations between Qualcomm and other 5G device makers. It is also worthy of note that Qualcomm reached a similar modem supply and patent licensing deal with Apple, one of its key customers, which had instigated lawsuits and antitrust investigations regarding Qualcomm’s chip supply terms. Shortly after Qualcomm and Apple settled their dispute, a U.S. federal court ruled that Qualcomm had been illegally suppressing smartphone chip competition, and ordered the company to renegotiate licensing agreements with customers at reasonable prices without threatening to cut off their supplies. That seems to be what has just happened.
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