After Delaware entered final judgment in Qualcomm’s favor, Arm says it will appeal. The immediate legal overhang on Snapdragon X and Oryon shrinks, but it isn’t zero.
What’s new
The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has entered final judgment for Qualcomm and Nuvia, effectively locking in last December’s jury win on core licensing questions. Arm says it will appeal. That means fewer courtroom excuses around Windows on Arm in the near term — and more pressure on the platform to deliver on drivers, compatibility and perf/W.
Qualcomm press note;
Reuters.
Why it matters
- Legal fog lifts: OEMs and IT buyers can judge Snapdragon X laptops on their merits instead of waiting on the case outcome.
- Arm’s leverage shifts: The ruling narrows how tightly Arm can police architecture-license boundaries when a licensee stays within contract — appeal pending.
- Focus flips to execution: The next six months are about driver hygiene, app compatibility, and battery-normalized performance — not legal briefs.
What to watch
- Appeal docket: Unless a stay lands (unlikely in a contract case), expect Qualcomm and partners to keep shipping through the process.
- Real-world stability: Docking, audio, GPU drivers across Windows updates — the boring bits that make or break adoption.
BonTech Labs view
Legal clarity removes the handbrake, but doesn’t crown a winner. If Windows on Arm is going to stick, it has to be judged by everyday work, not a demo deck. Start with our
Windows on Arm compatibility checklist, our deeper legal explainer
on the final judgment, and our sanity check on AI-PC hype
NPUs: the point—or the problem?.
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