iPhone

Qualcomm touts ‘Android firsts’ as it hilariously tries to steal Apple’s iPhone X thunder

Chance Miller | Sep 11 2017 - 4:01 pm PT

While much of the tech world is focused on tomorrow’s iPhone 8 and iPhone X announcement, Qualcomm is seemingly trying to steal a bit of Apple’s thunder. The chipmaker today shared a blog post highlighting the “Android firsts brought to you by Qualcomm,” which is basically its way of pointing out features that Android had before iPhone.

The chart highlights features such as an OLED display and a bezel-less design, both of which are expected to be flagship features of the new iPhone X. Qualcomm pats itself on the back for these features, saying:

Qualcomm Technologies has enabled some notable world firsts on Android, and some remain Android exclusives to this day. Although by no means comprehensive, here are a number of technologies and respective mobile devices where they appeared that paved the way for others to come.

Furthermore, Qualcomm seemingly thanks itself for features on the iPhone, saying that inventions from Qualcomm “lay the foundation for so many technologies and experiences we value in our smartphones today – on Android and other platforms.”

As Ben at 9to5Google pointed out, there are a slew of inaccuracies in Qualcomm’s chart. The company lists “firsts” that really aren’t firsts, or devices that don’t even have the corresponding feature:

Let’s take this one step at a time. Fast charging/quick charging. Yup, that absolutely came to Android first, and Qualcomm played a big part there, but I’m fairly sure the LG V30 which still hasn’t released isn’t one of the devices that “paved the way for others to come.” Next, dual cameras. For whatever reason, Qualcomm lists the HTC One M7 here even though it definitely only has one camera.

It’s also never Apple’s prerogative to first to market with a specific feature. As Tim Cook has said, Apple focuses more on getting a feature or product right than it does on being first. Ben Lovejoy highlighted this just last week, talking about Apple’s Face ID feature and Samsung’s easily fooled face tech:

There is not the slightest possibility that Apple would ever release a face-recognition system that could be so easily defeated, even if it were only used to unlock the phone. With all the signs pointing to it being used for Apple Pay too, we can be extremely confident that the version used in the iPhone 8 will be extremely secure.

Qualcomm’s passive aggressive blog post comes as it’s engaged in a heated legal battle with Apple over unpaid royalties and monopolistic-like behavior. Qualcomm has since come after Apple with a patent infringement suit, seeking an import ban on the iPhone.