Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi Corp, China’s two largest smartphone makers have formed a global patent cross-licensing deal that covers multiple next-generation technologies including 5G. The collaboration seeks to strengthen its global tech presence amidst stiff competition from Apple.
The agreement also hints at the end of the dispute the two entities have had over multiple technologies.
“This licensing agreement once again reflects the industry’s recognition of Huawei’s contributions to communications standards and will help us enhance our investment in researching future mobile communications technologies,” said Alan Fan, Head of Huawei’s intellectual property department, in a joint statement.
Prior to the deal, Huawei and Xiaomi were in conflict in a patent-infringement lawsuit. Huawei claimed that Xiaomi breached patent norms that covered the 4G LTE standard, smartphone photography, and a screen-lock security method.
Xiaomi which is based in Beijing, tried to invalidate the screen-lock patent back in April. However, the China National Intellectual Property Administration denied the action in September.
According to data from German Intelligence firm IPlytics, Shenzhen-based Huawei owned the largest number of 5G patents worldwide as of April 2022.
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Xiaomi hails the Huawei patent deal
The new patent cross-licensing agreement between Huawei and Xiaomi “shows that both parties recognize and respect each other’s intellectual property”, Xu Ran, general manager of corporate business development and IP strategy at Xiaomi, stated in the joint statement.
The deal reflects both firms’ emphasis on competing against the likes of Apple and Samsung in the premium segment (particularly in the 5G phones department!). That is because Apple’s iPhones have remained a ruler both in and out of the country in the flagship zone. But both domestic companies want to break that chain. But their situation is different. Huawei is trying to make a comeback to the global smartphone scene while Xiaomi phones are highly dominant in the mid-range segment. Their attempt is to break into and disrupt the high-end market.
The recently launched Huawei Mate 60 Pro has reignited a patriotic zeal in China. Many see the device as a symbol of a triumph against the US’s chip restriction. For the premium device, Huawei used a China-made processor – Kirin 9000s. Notably, the device comes with 5G support which was missing on Huawei devices in recent years following the US ban.
For both smartphone vendors, the desire to topple Apple at home is a shared longing. Xiaomi chair and chief executive officer Lei Jun reaffirmed the firm’s goal to surpass Apple one day and compete with other domestic smartphone manufacturers.
“Aiming for the high-end forces us to seek breakthroughs in technology while ensuring our future development and survival,” Lei said last month.
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Growing investment
He also pledged investment in hardware, software, AI, and tech infrastructures. He called it Xiaomi’s “strategic technology upgrade” program. Apparently, the company seeks to inject a total of $13.7 billion into R&D in the next five years. At the moment, Xiaomi is hiring a broad range of chipset engineers. This has sparked speculation that the Chinese smartphone vendor might be pushing for its own System-on-a-Chip (SoC) developments but it has not offered any clarification.
Likewise, Huawei has invested over 977 billion yuan in its R&D in the last 10 years. The company’s focus has been to stir away from US sanctions and catapult itself into the global smartphone market scene back again.
