We learned last month that Apple would have to remove the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 from its stores as a result of Qualcomm winning a sales ban on the devices, and now they have indeed been pulled.
The iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus have disappeared from Apple's website, leaving just the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max. They've been removed from the 15 Apple Stores in Germany, too.
The sales ban that Qualcomm won also required Apple to remove the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 from third-party sellers in Germany, but Reuters notes that some sellers are still offering those models.
Qualcomm won a permanent injunction against Apple in Germany after a court ruled that Apple had infringed on Qualcomm patents related to power saving tech in smartphones. This week the company posted security bonds totaling €1.34 billion EUR ($1.53 billion USD) in order to enforce the sales ban that had been ordered by the court. Now that's exactly what has happened, with Apple pulling its iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models until further notice.
Apple has said that Qualcomm's efforts to get sales bans against iPhone models is "a desperate attempt to distract from the real issues between our companies." Apple went on to claim that "Qualcomm insists on charging exorbitant fees based on work they didn't do and they are being investigated by governments all around the world for their behavior."
