After a patent dispute, Oppo is bringing a new smartphone onto the German market for the first time. This is made possible by a patent agreement with Nokia. The 5G smartphone Oppo Reno 11 F will be the first new device that the Chinese provider has sold across Europe in a year and a half. Delivery should start in the next few days. After that, cell phones from the premium Find model series will find their way into stores, but probably only from the next generation. Oppo European boss Bingo Liu announced this at the MWC in Barcelona.
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The reason is that German courts have found that Oppo cell phones infringe two Nokia patents. Due to this discovered patent infringement, Oppo had to stop shipping smartphones in Germany. Cell phones from the OnePlus brand, a subsidiary of Oppos, were also no longer sold here. The same fate befell its competitor Vivo, which also belongs to the BBK Group, about ten months ago and was also sentenced to cease and desist for violating a Nokia patent.
Nokia reaches agreement with Oppo and Vivo
About a month ago, Nokia and Oppo announced an agreement in the patent dispute. Within days, OnePlus cell phones were listed as available again in the German web shop. Now the parent brand Oppo follows.
It shouldn't stop with cell phones alone. New headphones and tablet computers, which were not affected by the patent dispute, will also be added over the course of the year. The company sold 103 million smartphones worldwide in 2023, achieving an 8.8 percent market share. That meant fourth place behind Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi, according to a survey by market observer IDC on global smartphone sales. However, if you only look at the fourth quarter of 2023, Oppo was no longer in the top 5. However, Vivo was able to climb to 5th place with 24 million smartphones (7.4 percent market share).
Nokia and Oppo do not reveal the terms of the mutual patent license agreement. It should pay off for the Finns: “The new agreement – along with the other major smartphone agreements that we concluded last year – will give our licensing business long-term financial stability,” Nokia President Jenni Lukander said of the deal.
At the beginning of February, Nokia also agreed on a licensing agreement with Vivo. This means that European markets are once again open to this Chinese company.
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