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Nearly 30 million people in the UK who purchased an Apple or Samsung Electronics mobile phone from 2015 to the year 2024 could be eligible to approximately £17 each if a customer campaign group prevails in its lawsuit against the US tech giant Qualcomm Inc..

Legal Action Starts This Week

The campaign is escalating the firm to the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London now.

The legal proceedings involving the consumer group and the chipmaker is expected to run for five weeks.

The body is claiming the semiconductor firm of unfair competition.

It claims that the firm forced Apple Inc. & Samsung Electronics to pay high fees and royalty payments for critical handset components, which then raised the cost of those mobile phones for buyers.

The Details the Case Will Determine

The legal proceedings commencing on Monday will look into whether the chipmaker possessed control and, if proven, whether it misused a powerful stance.

In the event that the consumer group is successful, there will be a second stage aiming to obtain 480 million pounds from Qualcomm, to be allocated to an projected 29 million British phone owners involved.

The consumer group is pursuing restitution for all impacted Apple and Samsung mobile phones purchased between the start of October 2015 and January 9, 2024.

The organization states this would almost certainly amount at approximately 17 pounds per individual.

Earlier Allegations and The Firm's Position

Qualcomm has earlier stated the legal action has "little merit".

A similar legal action against Qualcomm is in progress in Canada, and the firm has also in the past been penalized by the EU for anti-competition breaches.

The US regulator in the United States sued the company for anti-competitive behavior in the way it sold rights to its innovations back in the year 2017, but had its case dismissed in the year 2020.

Significance of the Case

The chief executive of the organization stated: "This trial is a significant event. It illustrates how the power of the public - backed by us - can be used to hold the largest corporations to account should they abuse their dominant position."

The chipmaker is one of the leading producers of mobile processors and has faced claims about anti-competitive behaviour before.

• Affected handsets include Apple Inc. & Samsung Electronics phones purchased between the end of 2015 and the start of 2024.
• The overall compensation demanded is £480 million.
• Individual payout is estimated to be about £17.
• The legal action is taking place at the CAT in the UK capital.