Chinese mobile phone giant, Huawei, is no longer active in the mobile phone market. Due to the ban on the company by the U.S., it barely releases its own mobile phones. In fact, the company is set to completely exit the European mobile phone market. However, somehow, the company still make much money off mobile phones even without launching its own devices. Huawei now sells its licenses for certain relevant patents related to 5G tech to its competitors.

Huawei has a deal with Samsung and Oppo

In a recent official statement, Huawei revealed that it has signed a massive license deal with Chinese mobile phone giant, Oppo. The latter thus acquires the right to use a number of technologies developed by Huawei in its devices. The patent deal not only covers 5G mobile tech. In addition to 5G, the patents licensed by Huawei to Oppo also cover WiFi, audio and video technologies. In addition to Oppo, Huawei says it also has a similar license deal with a large number of other brands. The largest licensee is said to be Korean giant, Samsung. The company is now able to use a variety of Huawei’s patented tech.

Samsung is the top licensee in terms of both the number of patents that the deal covers with the Chinese brand and the number of devices sold utilizing those patents. Oppo is its largest Chinese licensee in each of these two areas. In return, Oppo also gives the company the right to use certain patented technologies under the new deal.

The license deal with Samsung has been active for quite some time now. However, this is the first time that Huawei is making it public.  Due to the ban on Huawei, its mobile phone business has been struggling. The company is now looking for other means of generating revenue. One way of doing this is by selling license for its patents. Huawei made no less than $1.3 billion between 2019 and 2021 by selling these licenses.