March 2026:
A hearing has been listed for 18 May 2026 at 10.30am with a time-estimate of one-day. Please read the Notice of Settlement Application and Order (CSAO Hearing Direction).
February 2026:
The parties have reached agreement pursuant to which the Class Representative will now apply to the Tribunal for permission to withdraw the Proceedings in their entirety. Qualcomm will not make any payment to the Class Representative or the Class as a result of this agreement (which remains subject to the Tribunal’s approval). The approval of the Class Representative’s application by the Competition Appeal Tribunal will conclude the claim against Qualcomm. This agreement has been reached between the parties because the Class Representative has concluded, based on the evidence, and the arguments at trial, that the Tribunal will find that:
Qualcomm did not coerce Apple, Apple’s Contract Manufacturers (CMs), or Samsung to sign any patent licences or chipset agreements;
Qualcomm did not leverage its position as a chipset supplier to coerce Apple, Apple’s CMs, or Samsung to agree to any licensing terms; and
Qualcomm’s licensing and chipset practices did not infringe competition laws, did not result in inflated royalties, and did not lead to an increase in prices consumers paid for their mobile phones.
October 2025:
Trial is currently ongoing - it commenced on 6 October 2025 and will last for 5 weeks in the Competition Appeal Tribunal. This is the first trial in the proceedings and it will focus on Qualcomm’s abuse of its dominant market positions.
September 2025:
A further hearing took place on 4 September 2025 to address unresolved issues relating to third parties’ and Qualcomm’s confidential information. The transcript of the hearing can be accessed here.
Which? and Qualcomm exchanged Skeleton Arguments for trial on 19 September 2025.
August 2025:
The Pre-Trial Review hearing (“PTR”) took place on 29 July 2025. The transcript of the hearing can be accessed here. In advance of the PTR, the parties agreed the timetable to trial (which can be found here) and addressed (amongst other things) the treatment of confidential material at trial.
July 2025:
Hearsay Evidence – Which? made an application for permission to rely on certain hearsay evidence from the Optis v Apple Proceedings. The application was granted by the Tribunal by the Reasoned Order of the Chair made on 4 July 2025. Which? filed a Re-Amended Hearsay Notice including this evidence on 8 August 2025.
December 2024:
At the sixth case management conference which took place on 19 December 2024, the Tribunal considered (amongst other matters): (i) Qualcomm’s security for costs application; and (ii) an application from Which? that Qualcomm re-review all disclosed documents that had been redacted for privilege. The Chair rejected Qualcomm’s security for costs application but ordered that Which? obtain additional after the event insurance cover by the 28 February 2025. The Tribunal dismissed Which?’s application for re-review of all disclosure documents, but did order Qualcomm to conduct a limited re-review over a subsection of redacted documents. For further details of the Tribunal’s Order please refer here.
July 2024:
The fifth case management conference took place on 29 and 30 July 2024 at which the Tribunal made various case management orders, as further detailed here. Which?’s application for Qualcomm to conduct a limited re-review of documents redacted for privilege was granted; while Which?’s application for permission to amend its Reply was dismissed.
June 2024:
The Tribunal hears an application filed by Which? regarding Qualcomm’s approach to setting its royalty rates. The Tribunal partially allows Which?’s application and makes various case management directions as a result. Further details can be found here.
May 2024:
The Court of Appeal handed down its decision regarding Which?’s application for permission to appeal. Which? applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the Tribunal’s decision refusing to allow amendments to the Claim Form that fell outside the limitation period. The Court of Appeal refused Which?’s application meaning that the Tribunal’s ruling is now final.
January 2024:
The fourth case management conference took place on 9 and 10 January 2024, during which the Tribunal (amongst other matters): (i) made further orders for additional disclosure from Qualcomm; (ii) directed that there be two trials to determine the case, with the first trial to commence on 7 October 2025 (now 6 October 2025); and (iii) directed that the class definition be varied. Further details of the Tribunal’s orders following the hearing can be read here and here.
November 2023:
Pursuant to CMC3 and CMC4 Disclosure Orders, Qualcomm discloses documents to Which?. A further disclosure order was made on 11 March 2024 requiring Qualcomm to disclose documents relating to a former senior Qualcomm employee David Wise.
July 2023:
At the third case management conference, the Tribunal allowed Which? to make amendments to its Claim Form but did not allow others that fell outside the limitation period. Further details regarding the Tribunal’s ruling can be found here. Which? therefore applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the Tribunal’s ruling.
June 2023:
Which? and Qualcomm disagreed about the amount of redactions that Qualcomm had made to the documents provided in March 2023. Which? asked for the redactions to be removed from some of the documents and the Tribunal agreed, ordering Qualcomm to remove them.
March 2023:
Qualcomm complied with the Tribunal’s January Order and provided Which? with several categories of documents that it has previously provided to competition authorities. Qualcomm provided some of these documents with redactions.
February 2023:
One sentence in Which?’s reply (filed in October 2022) has been removed (this is also known as being ‘struck-out’). That sentence related to whether the Tribunal can use findings made by judges in other proceedings against Qualcomm when deciding Which?’s case. The Tribunal decided that it can't, however, it can use facts and evidence from those proceedings.
January 2023:
A case management conference (CMC) in the case took place on 13 January 2023. The Tribunal made an order for various case management directions, as further detailed here. The Tribunal’s ruling on Which?’s specific disclosure application, granting Which?’s request for the disclosure of all documents quoted from or cited in certain sections of the European Commission decision dated 24 January 2018 in Case AT.40220 – Qualcomm (Exclusivity Payments), is further detailed here.
November 2022:
Which?’s claim will go ahead on an ‘opt-out’ basis. This means that if you were living in the UK on 17 May 2022, and fit the class definition, you are automatically included in the class, unless you chose to opt-out of the proceedings and informed Which? of this decision by 15 November 2022.
October 2022:
Which? filed its Reply to Qualcomm’s Defence of Which?’s claim on 29 July 2022.
July 2022:
Following judgment, the Competition Appeal Tribunal made a Collective Proceedings Order on 4 July 2022, allowing the claim to proceed as a collective claim on behalf of eligible UK class members. The CPO Notice explains the claim, who is covered by the claim and informs you of important legal rights you may have related to this claim and any related deadlines.
Qualcomm filed its Defence to Which?’s claim on 29 July 2022.
May 2022:
The Competition Appeal Tribunal handed down its judgment certifying Which?’s proposed collective proceedings and authorising Which? to act as the class representative.
Which? was granted a Collective Proceedings Order (or CPO) on 17 May 2022. Wondering what a CPO is? Which? explains in the following video.
You are welcome to share this video on social media to help other consumers understand about Which?’s claim and whether they may be included.
March 2022/April 2022:
The certification hearing took place before the Competition Appeal Tribunal between 30 March and 1 April 2022.
January 2022:
On 5 January 2022, the Tribunal allowed Which? to amend the class definition to include the representatives of deceased consumers, as further detailed here.
November 2021:
Qualcomm withdraws its jurisdiction challenge. Following the first CMC on 9 November 2021, the Competition Appeal Tribunal schedules the certification hearing for 30-31 March 2022 (with 1 April 2022 in reserve) to determine the next steps in the claim.
August 2021:
Which? files its responsive evidence in relation to Qualcomm’s jurisdiction challenge.
June 2021:
The Competition Appeal Tribunal schedules a hearing for 8 and 9 November 2021 to determine Qualcomm’s jurisdiction challenge.
May 2021:
Qualcomm challenges the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s jurisdiction to hear the claim.
March 2021:
Which? is granted permission by the Competition Appeal Tribunal to serve the claim on USA-based Qualcomm outside of the jurisdiction (i.e., outside of the UK).
February 2021:
Which? announces that it has filed the claim against Qualcomm.
February 2021:
The claim is filed in the Competition Appeal Tribunal.