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Close to 30 million consumers in the Britain who purchased an Apple and/or Samsung smartphone between the year 2015 to 2024 might be eligible to approximately seventeen pounds per person in the event that a consumer campaign group prevails in its case against the US technology firm Qualcomm.

Court Case Starts Today

The advocacy organization is taking the technology corporation to the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London this week.

The case involving the watchdog and the chipmaker is projected to run for over a month.

The group is alleging the tech firm of unfair competition.

The allegation is that the firm pressured Apple Inc. & Samsung to pay high fees and royalty payments for essential phone parts, which then raised the expense of those devices for users.

The Details the Legal Action Will Examine

The case starting now will focus on whether Qualcomm possessed control and, if so, whether it exploited a leading role.

In the event that the advocacy organization is successful in its claim, there will be a second stage aiming to obtain £480m from Qualcomm, to be allocated to an projected twenty-nine million British consumers affected.

The organization is seeking damages for all impacted Apple Inc. and Samsung mobile phones acquired between the start of October 2015 and early January 2024.

The group says this would probably work out at about £17 each.

Past Cases and The Firm's Position

The company has in the past said the claim has "no basis".

A comparable claim against Qualcomm is in progress in the Canadian courts, and the company has also in the past been fined by the European Union for antitrust violations.

The FTC in the US sued the corporation for unfair practices in the way it licensed its patents back in the year 2017, but had its claim dismissed in 2020.

Impact of the Legal Action

The chief executive of the watchdog remarked: "This trial is a significant event. It illustrates how the power of the public - represented by the group - can be used to hold the biggest companies to be accountable should they exploit their dominant position."

The firm is one of the largest global suppliers of smartphone chips and has been subject to allegations about restrictive conduct in the past.

• Eligible handsets include Apple Inc. & Samsung Electronics phones acquired between the end of 2015 and 2024.
• The total payout demanded is £480 million.
• Individual payout is expected to be around £17.
• The case is taking place at the CAT in London.