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I think you guys are ALL missing the point. Imagine if you bought a brand new car but later found out it had a stolen engine? This is probably why Qualcomm is

I think you guys are ALL missing the point. Imagine if you bought a brand new car but later found out it had a stolen engine? This is probably why Qualcomm is collecting data from its chipsets. Qualcomm gets a 5% royalty (5% of the cost of the entire handset) payment from each vendor. Qualcomm needs to know if a vendor is lying about the number of chipsets it has used. They need to know if the vendor claims 10M cheapo handsets and 1M expensive handsets - they need to know if the numbers are actually reversed! This backdoor can get them the evidence they need to invalidate a license with a vendor - cut of chipsets shipments - and start a new negotiation. Remember, Chinese vendors will cheat like bananas. Chinese vendors asked for a HUGE discount on domestic phones - and they go it - but at the cost of a higher-than-normal royalty for exports. They are probably cheating, it's what they do.

mattmaroon 3y ago
How do you cheat with a physical object like that? Isn’t Qualcomm selling them the chips? It’s not a windows install, it’s a physical item they buy. Don’t they just pay by the unit?
- hammock 3y ago
  They might pay more for a unit that goes in an expensive phone than in a cheap phone, even if it's the same unit There are all kinds of licensing agreements that go along with physical products. For example a book or videotape that is licensed to be used in a library costs more than a book or videotape for personal consumption
  - mattmaroon 3y ago
    It exists, but are chips actually sold that way? And are major phone OEMs likely to violate such contracts to save some money? And is it sending any data that would be then determine it if so? It just seems pretty far fetched to me that this is at all the point. Not impossible, but very improbable.
    - hammock 3y ago
      Yes yes and maybe
progman32 3y ago
This is the customer's problem, how?

mattmaroon 3y ago

How do you cheat with a physical object like that? Isn’t Qualcomm selling them the chips? It’s not a windows install, it’s a physical item they buy. Don’t they just pay by the unit?

hammock 3y ago
They might pay more for a unit that goes in an expensive phone than in a cheap phone, even if it's the same unit There are all kinds of licensing agreements that go along with physical products. For example a book or videotape that is licensed to be used in a library costs more than a book or videotape for personal consumption
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  It exists, but are chips actually sold that way? And are major phone OEMs likely to violate such contracts to save some money? And is it sending any data that would be then determine it if so? It just seems pretty far fetched to me that this is at all the point. Not impossible, but very improbable.
  - hammock 3y ago
    Yes yes and maybe

progman32 3y ago

This is the customer's problem, how?