Bloomberg says Huawei will begin negotiating for 5G technology royalties from Apple and Samsung for its portfolio of 5G technology patents.
Huawei owns the world’s largest collection of 5G patents and is looking to negotiate rates and potential cross-licensing with the iPhone maker and Samsung Electronics Co., Chief Legal Officer Song Liuping said. It’s natural” for Huawei to capitalize on its patents, Song said. Song said Huawei will charge lower rates than those charged by competitors, including Qualcomm, Ericsson, and Nokia.
Per-phone royalties will be capped at $2.50, which is much less than the $7.50 rate charged by Qualcomm that led to a legal battle with Apple over allegedly unfair pricing.
Huawei should rake in about $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion in patent and licensing fees between 2019 and 2021, executives said without specifying which of those stemmed from 5G.
Apple currently relies on Qualcomm for its 5G modems and is expected to do so until 2022, when the Cupertino firm is expected to use its own 5G modems in the 2023 iPhone lineup. Apple is also reportedly already working on next-generation 6G technology.