As rumored earlier today, the EU announced a 997 million euro fine to be imposed on Qualcomm, approximately $1.2 billion dollars, which makes cellular radio chips inside most iPhones. The EU says Qualcomm bribed Apple with billions of dollars in rebate payments to make Apple not use chips from competing manufacturers, reducing competition from other manufacturers in the LTE baseband chip industry.
The fine is a hefty levy against Qualcomm’s bottom line, which recorded $20 billion in total revenue last year, although it is subject to appeal so the final number might be less.
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