Apple Swaps Intel Modems for Qualcomm Hardware to Escape German Ban

Apple has been under a sales ban on some of its older models of smartphones in Germany after losing in court to Qualcomm. To get around that sales ban Apple has done something that it isn’t happy with, but consumers will appreciate. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 smartphones will be up for sale again in Germany with a catch.

Apple has been forced to ditch the Intel modems inside those devices and go with Qualcomm hardware instead. While Apple isn’t happy about the move because it says that Qualcomm is essentially using extortion to force Apple to use its modems reports Engadget.

The big upside for consumers is that the Qualcomm modems are said to perform much better than the Intel parts. Consumers don’t give a hoot about fights between tech giants for the most part.

All the consumer wants is a reasonably priced device that has good performance. The sales ban might turn out to be a good thing for consumers. Apple is thought to be unlikely to build two versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8; the thought is the devices with Qualcomm modems will turn up everywhere the devices are sold globally.