Qualcomm, the biggest smartphone chipset vendor in the world, is now facing another massive consumer lawsuit.
Interestingly, the end result of the new charges could force them to give $42 to each Apple and Samsung smartphone owners, bought their devices since 2015.
Qualcomm faces lawsuit again
Which?, the country’s leading consumer association, has recently filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm with a price of over $600 million.
The organization accuses the tech giant of violating and breaching the competition law, in order to charge higher fees in both Apple and Samsung companies.
According to the report, Qualcomm allegedly used its dominance and power to control the pricing of the processor market in the United Kingdom.
Instead of offering cheaper deals on Apple and Samsung, the chipset vendor reportedly charged both companies with really higher fees, resulting for both of the smartphone sellers to charge users in more expensive prices.
Which? claims that, due to the incident, every Samsung and Apple smartphone users in UK since 2015 should be entitled to a fee of £17 to £30 ($24 to $42) depending on the smartphone model that they bought over the last 6 years.
Anabel Hoult, CEO of Which?, said:
“We believe Qualcomm’s practices are anticompetitive and have so far taken around £480 million from UK consumers’ pockets – this needs to stop. We are sending a clear warning that if companies like Qualcomm indulge in manipulative practices which harm consumers, Which? is prepared to take action.
“If Qualcomm has abused its market power it must be held to account. Without Which? bringing this claim on behalf of millions of affected UK consumers, it would simply not be realistic for people to seek damages from the company on an individual basis – that’s why it’s so important that consumers can come together and claim the redress they are entitled to.”
Where can you get refund?
As of now, the talks about the possible refund on both Apple and Samsung users were not yet finalized.
This means, that Qualcomm still has time to prevent their possible loss of money, and or present their case in the court.
Qualcomm denies allegations
As expected too, Qualcomm denied all the allegations, presented by Which? on the plaintiff.
They explained that the allegations and charges were already clarified by their company in the court. Therefore, Which? claims were not true anymore.
“As the plaintiffs are well aware, their claims were effectively put to rest last summer by a unanimous panel of judges at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the United States,” said Qualcomm representative in BBC News.
This was not the first time that Qualcomm faced multimillion charges against them in the court of law.
For over the past four years, the company received complaints and charges from different companies and countries, around the globe.
The biggest penalty they paid amounted to $1.23 billion.
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