As much as Apple Inc.’s iPhone has boosted Qualcomm Technologies Inc.’s fortunes for years, it’s now coming back to bite the mobile chip making giant.

That’s apparent in the chip maker’s fiscal third-quarter earnings reported today, which took an expected hit from a dispute with Apple over licensing fees on iPhones. Revenue fell 11 percent from a year ago, to $5.4 billion, and profit before certain costs such as stock compensation dropped 28 percent, to 83 cents a share.

That nominally beat analysts’ forecast for an adjusted profit of 81 cents a share on revenue of $5.3 billion, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. But investors still weren’t thrilled with the report, knocking shares down by about a little over 1 percent in after-hours trading late Wednesday. Update: Shares ended up falling almost 5 percent Thursday, to $53.97 a share.

It’s the road ahead that worries investors. Qualcomm said it expects revenue between $5.4 billion and $6.2 billion in its fourth quarter, which translates to flat to down 13 percent. That also would be within expectations of $5.5 billion, but the issue is profit.

Qualcomm forecast an adjusted profit of 75 to 85 cents, down from $1.28 in the fourth quarter of 2016 — quite a bit lower than the 93 cents analysts had been modeling. More specifically, it predicted up to a 47 percent drop in technology licensing revenues, to as low as $1 billion thanks to Apple’s manufacturing partners withholding license fees. Even the high end of Qualcomm’s forecast, $1.3 billion, came in below analysts’ forecast of more than $1.5 billion.

Still, some analysts say that but for the Apple issues, the company would be doing well. “Qualcomm had a good quarter even with Apple withholding royalties to the company,” said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “This a testament to its improved position in its chip business. Most importantly, Qualcomm still commands a lead in 4G LTE and mobile 5G technologies, even though there are very credible competitors in fixed 5G.”

The sober earnings report follows a report today that four Asian contract manufacturers of Apple’s are joining it in an antitrust dispute over the licensing fees Qualcomm charges for all smartphones regardless of whether they use one of its chips. Apple sued Qualcomm in January, charging that the chip maker withheld nearly $1 billion in rebates owed to Apple in retaliation for the iPhone maker’s working with South Korean regulators. Apple in turn told the contractors — Foxconn parent Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Wistron Corp., Compal Electronics Inc. and Pegatron Corp. — to withhold their licensing payments for now, prompting Qualcomm to cut its third-quarter revenue outlook by about $500 million, to $4.8 billion to $5.6 billion.

The potential if Qualcomm loses the case, which began when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust case against it, is that Qualcomm could be forced to refund billions of dollars. Still, the latest developments didn’t appear to hit its shares, which rose a little under 1 percent, to $56.78, in regular trading today.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm also filed two new suits against Apple today, this time in Germany, again charging that the iPhone maker infringed on patents for transmitting data with minimal battery drain. Qualcomm Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf (pictured) said Monday that he would prefer to settle the Apple case out of court. But today he insisted on the earnings conference call, “We believe that we hold the high ground with regard to the dispute with Apple.”

Further complicating the quarter is Qualcomm’s massive pending $39 billion acquisition of automotive chip maker NXP Semiconductors NV, which is expected to close by the end of the calendar year. U.S. regulators approved the deal but EU authorities recently asked for more information and could start fining the company $665,000 a day until they get it.

Photo: Consumer Electronics Show livestream screenshot