The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has indicated that it will find Qualcomm did not abuse its market power, leading consumer advocacy group Which? to withdraw a case it hoped would see Brits compensated for increased smartphone prices.
Which? claimed that Qualcomm abused its market position as a dominant producer of processors and radio chips for smartphones, and that even Samsung and Apple felt they had no alternative but to pay inflated prices for some parts and then passed on the costs to buyers. UK consumers, the group argued, therefore paid more for certain smartphones between October 2015 and January 2024. Up to 29 million UK residents bought Qualcomm-equipped phones during that period, leading Which? to suggest they collectively overpaid by £480 million ($650 million), or £17 ($23) per device.
Senior Qualcomm execs and expert economists gave evidence on the matter during a five-week trial held in October and November 2025.
Which?’s arguments flopped and the org concluded that the Tribunal will make three findings:
- Qualcomm did not coerce Apple, Apple’s Chipset Manufacturers (CMs), or Samsung to sign any patent licences or chipset agreements;
- Qualcomm did not leverage its position as a chipset supplier to coerce Apple, Apple’s CMs, or Samsung to agree to any licensing terms; and
- Qualcomm’s licensing and chipset practices did not infringe competition laws, did not result in inflated royalties, and did not lead to an increase in prices consumers paid for their mobile phones.
The consumer group and Qualcomm therefore agreed to wrap things up. Which? has filed documents to withdraw its case without Qualcomm paying a single penny and posted news of its decision.
Qualcomm’s UK lawyers clearly did a decent job preparing the case and stayed classy by not celebrating victory in their announcement of the planned agreement to write off the case.
It’s not clear why the Tribunal decided Which?’s case was bound to fail, but for what it’s worth in the last few months Apple and Samsung have both signaled they want to use less Qualcomm kit.
Cupertino has started using its own modems in the iPhone Air and some other low-end handsets, and Samsung revealed it wants to improve the performance of its Exynos SoCs so they can power its premium smartphones – a role Qualcomm currently fills with its Snapdragon silicon. ®
