Smartphone Price Fixing Class Action Settlement

Photo Credit: Unsplash | Updated: November 21, 2024

Claim Form Deadline: Pending

Payout: Varies

Proof required: No

Method of payment: Mailed Check

What's the Smartphone Class Action About?

If you're one of millions of people who use a smartphone you might be part of this class action. A nearly $5 Billion class action lawsuit that affects over 250 Million Americans has been filed against Qualcomm, an American processor chip manufacturer, which owns patents critical widely used smartphone technology, such as 5G. It is unclear at this time whether the smartphone class action also includes smartwatches such as Apple watches, Samsung Galaxy watches, Garmin watches, or Fitbits.

The smartphone class action lawsuit was originally filed by the FTC where it claimed that Qualcomm violated state antitrust laws in the United States, harming competition and directly causing consumers to overpay for their cell phones for years, at least since 2011. The FTC claimed that the amount consumers overpaid by more than $5 Billion as a result of Qualcomm's "No License, No Chips" business practice.

Qualcomm potentially engaged in anti-competitive conduct that raised the price consumers paid for mobile phones. The cell phones involved in this litigation include phones with CDMA and LTE technologies. This includes phones manufactured and sold by all of the top smartphone manufacturers and companies such as Samsung, Apple, Huawei, LG, Motorola, and ZTE. Below is a list of the manufacturers involved in this class action lawsuit. A full list of all smartphone models included in this class action can be found on the class action administration claim form website (see at the bottom of this page).

Smartphone Manufacturer
Samsung
Apple
Coolpad
HTC
Huawei
Kyocera
Lenovo
LG
Motorola
Microsoft
Nokia
Sony
TCL
ZTE
Alcatel
BlackBerry

How Do I Qualify?

You may be included in this class action if you are in the United States, and you purchased or paid for a UMTS, CDMA (including cdmaOne and CDMA2000) and/or LTE smartphone for your personal use from February 11, 2011.

Phones that were included as part of the purchase of a wireless network services contract are included in this class action as well as single purchases. These contracts are typically offered from some of the largest conglomerate wireless providers such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint as part of marketing to get contract sign-ups.

How Do I Find Class Action Settlements?

Find all the latest class actions you can qualify for by getting notified of new lawsuits as soon as they are open to claims:

How Do I File a Claim?

Register in this class action for potential reward online here. It is important to note that the class action lawsuit is currently pending in Court; The latest trial was ruled in Qualcomm's favor in the Ninth Circuit court in 2021. Qualcomm's due process was ruled as having been harmed due to the massive breadth and scope of the case involving almost every single cell phone purchaser in the U.S. dating back more than a decade. As a result, the trial is currently pending in lower courts.

Most recently, in June of 2022, an amended class action complaint was filed on behalf of the proposed 250 million Americans affected by the alleged price fixing of smartphones that contained Qualcomm processors. According to Reuters, the central thesis of the Qualcomm class action lawsuit is that the company violated California state law, specifically anti-trust law called the Cartwright Act. Previously, a third-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the certification of the Qualcomm class action.

The argument made by Qualcomm's lawyers, among other arguments for the defense of Qualcomm, was that the size of the class action settlement, 250 million class action members and an estimated $5 Billion in funds, is too unwieldy. The size and scope of such a class action would make this one of the single largest class action lawsuits in history.

So What's Next For the Smartphone Class Action?

The Qualcomm class action lawsuit has had its class action certification reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and is currently pending a second amended class action lawsuit, which you can find here.

Filing Class Action Settlement Claims

Please note that your claim form will be rejected if you submit a settlement claim with fraudulent information. By providing this information and your sworn statement of its veracity, you agree to do so under the penalty of perjury. You would also be harming others that actually qualify for the class action settlement. If you are not sure whether or not you qualify for this class action settlement, visit the class action administrator's website below. OpenClassActions.com is a participant in the Amazon affiliate advertising program and this post may contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission or fees if you make a purchase via those links.