In a decision over Samsung’s use of iPhone design elements, the Supreme Court gave Samsung a chance to recover some of the nearly $400 million it had previously been ordered to pay Apple.

a. If Samsung and other smartphone producers had been prevented from entering the market by Apple patents, leaving Apple with a monopoly in the smartphone market, who would benefit and who would lose?

b. Compared to a smartphone monopoly, who would benefit and who would lose if hundreds of firms entered the smartphone market, each producing an identical smartphone, making the market perfectly competitive?

c. Explain which market would be efficient: a perfectly competitive one or a monopoly.