In a recently filed lawsuit, the US Federal Trade Commission is accusing mobile technology player Qualcomm of entering an anticompetitive deal with phone manufacturer Apple. By giving discounts for its licenses for agreeing to exclusively use their processors on iPhone and iPads, the FTC claims that they are closing competitors out of Apple's reach and creating a monopoly.

According to a statement made by the FTC on Tuesday, Qualcomm has recognized that competitors that gained the business of Apple would certainly become a more dominant force on the market, and they used the exclusivity agreement to prevent other Apple to have deals and work with other chip providers, Bloomberg reports. Taking note of the deals both companies had in 2007, 2011 and 2013, the government agency points out that the discount for the licenses are paid to Apple through conditional rebates, which include the non-usage of wireless technology from Intel, agreeing to not sue Qualcomm over the royalties and the use of Qualcomm processors for future iPhones and iPads.

Essentially, FTC is claiming that Qualcomm is forcing mobile phone makers, like Apple, to use their chips along with their technology, as the company would need to pay more royalties if they would use a competitor's chip for their IP.

Qualcomm is not only a provider network chips for use in wireless connection, but the San Diego-based company also owns a significant chunk of the patents and intellectual property for the technology. These are licensed to other companies that manufacture baseband processors for LTE connection, like Intel and MediaTek.

Business Insider reports that Qualcomm, in their response to the lawsuit, stated that FTC's complaint is wrong, as the company never withheld chip supply, or threatened to do so, in order to gain an agreement with Apple. The company also points out the lack of economic support, as well as the flawed legal theory that the claim was based on.

In addition to their defense, the company also accused the agency of rushing the complaint days before the change in administration, and making the time when only three of the five seats in the agency are occupied.

The company has been the subject of several investigations, with South Korea fining the chipmaker around $890 million and calling its business practice monopolistic. And while Qualcomm has stated that they would appeal on the South Korean decision, the European Union and Taiwanese government are also looking at the company's practice.

Recently, tests showed that iPhone 7s with an Intel chip performed less than the Qualcomm-packed iPhone 7 in terms of wireless performance.

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