Credit: 9to5Mac

The US and China have been on shaky ground in 2018. Following the Trump administration’s move to place 25 percent tariff on Chinese products earlier this year, there is a new, unlikely threat that will hurt the technology industry and continue what many people consider a continuation of the US-China trade war.

On December 1, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada following a slew of allegations over fraud that lead to side-stepping US sanctions in Iran, according to CNN – at the same time, Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping called a truce on their trade war. Now as the local tech company finds itself in hot water, Apple has also been pulled into the ongoing controversy, with Qualcomm suggesting that the company’s iOS features violated a number of its patents. This has caused the ban of sales on a selected range of iPhone models in China.

Appearing in a Chinese court this week, American microchip maker Qualcomm filed an injunction on Apple – direct competitors with Huawei – with the patents in question concern the way Apple resizes and formats images in iOS and how the operating system handles switching between various touchscreen apps. The court case sparked an immediate appeal by Apple.

“Qualcomm’s effort to ban our products is another desperate move by a company whose illegal practices are under investigation by regulators around the world,” Apple said in a statement earlier Monday. “All iPhone models remain available for our customers in China. Qualcomm is asserting three patents they had never raised before, including one which has already been invalidated. We will pursue all our legal options through the courts.”

According to reports, the XS, XS Max and XR are safe from the ban, but the sale and import of 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X is now illegal in China, however Apple has said:

“All iPhone models remain available for our customers in China,” Apple added. “Qualcomm is asserting three patents they had never raised before, including one which has already been invalidated. We will pursue all our legal options through the courts.”

So why does this have anything to do with Huawei’s CFO? Chinese media have presented this latest move as another example of how the US is trying to hurt a Chinese tech company encouraging the continued ban of American product.

This is an ongoing case, so stay tuned.