Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips in trouble after judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit
Judge Alan Albright said that there were ongoing disagreements about certain terms like “microcontroller”. The judge also ruled that Qualcomm’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit would be considered at a later date after further developments.
These sorts of lawsuits often end up with the accused party paying a sum or royalties to the entity that had sued them. If the judge rules in favor of Collabo Innovations Inc., Qualcomm might be ordered to pay a handsome sum of money to the company. However, a harsher result may see Qualcomm being told to stop using the microcontroller chip in its Snapdragon processors entirely.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is being used in the Samsung Galaxy S25 lineup. | Image credit — Samsung
Furthermore, the company’s rumored decisions to jack up the price of its upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 chip will only drive big customers like Samsung even further away. Samsung has been investing heavily into perfecting its Exynos processors so that it can stop relying on Snapdragon chips that cost it hundreds of millions of Dollars a year.
The Snapdragon processors are some of the most powerful chipsets that phone manufacturers can use today. However, this lawsuit — in addition to the other problems cornering the company — threaten to change the smartphone industry’s landscape pretty soon.
