Payback time — literally. You know how Apple sued Samsung for mercilessly copying the iPhone in numerous devices and won the lawsuit by taking $1.05 billion from Samsung’s pockets? Everybody knew the war was far from over and now we have proof. Samsung has confirmed that it plans to sue Apple if the upcoming sixth-generation iPhone has 4G LTE functionality built in.
Samsung owns approximately 10 percent of patents related to long-term evolution, or LTE, technology. Apple already released the third-generation iPad earlier this year with LTE, but Samsung reportedly decided to hold off and wait for the more popular iPhone for a satisfying sucker punch to the mouth.
Since it’s so incredibly unlikely that Apple would not release an LTE iPhone this year, a lawsuit is in fact incredibly likely. Samsung may just have the patent power to win too. Ah, revenge. Apple would have to figure out a way around the lawsuit. Luckily, Apple has a history of knowing how to get around things, but it’s very possible that this time it could face defeat.
Samsung isn’t the leader when it comes to owning LTE patents. In fact, Nokia has almost double with 18.9 percent of patents and Qualcomm is also ahead with 12.5 percent. Those companies, however, aren’t as prominent as Samsung is in the mobile space and on top of that, they didn’t just lose over a billion dollars to the company Samsung is now trying to sue.
September 12th not only marks the all-but-confirmed launch day for the new iPhone, but it’s also the starting date of a new war.