MUNICH (Reuters) - A German court ruled on Thursday that iPhone maker Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) infringed a hardware patent of Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ: QCOM) and said the U.S. company could no longer sell some iPhone models in Germany which contain a particular component.

The ruling is not final as Apple can appeal to a higher court, judge Matthias Zigann told the court.

The German case is Qualcomm's third major effort to secure a ban on Apple's lucrative iPhones over patent infringement allegations after similar court efforts in the United States and in China, one of which resulted in Chinese court ordering a ban on sales of some iPhones there earlier this month.

(This version of the story corrects detail on appeal process in second paragraph)

(Reporting by Joern Poltz, writing by Emma Thomasson, editing by Tassilo Hummel)