The Strategist

Huawei will charge smartphone manufacturers for the use of its 5G technology



03/17/2021 - 03:45



Huawei has announced that it will begin charging smartphone manufacturers a licensing fee for the use of its 5G technology. The maximum payment per device will be $2.5 - less than other 5G patent holders. The license fee will allow the Chinese company to cover losses due to the US sanctions.



Christoph Scholz
Christoph Scholz
Chinese tech giant Huawei said it intends to charge smartphone manufacturers a "reasonable" fee for the use of its 5G technology. This was reported by Bloomberg and CNBC.

While developing the next generation of cellular technology, it is also necessary to create global standards that will enable interoperability between 5G networks around the world and allow smartphones to share data. 

Companies such as Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson, US chipmaker Qualcomm and others are contributing to the process of developing these standards. If a smartphone manufacturer wants to release a gadget with 5G, it will likely have to use a patent from one or more of these companies. In return, the patent owners could ask for their percentage. 

Huawei has 3007 patent families for 5G, research organisation GreyB told. Huawei is the world leader in this regard, it said. Other top 5G patent holders are Samsung, LG Electronics, Nokia, Ericsson and Qualcomm.

source: bloomberg.com, cnbc.com