Apple has entered a long-term patent deal with LG Electronics.
Earlier in the year, LG received a one-off payment in patent licensing fees worth around $600 million but it didn’t reveal the company. Now, it’s been reported by The Elec that one of the companies that paid LG Electronics was Apple.
It’s now thought to be the case that LG Electronics and Apple have entered a long-term patent use agreement “of up to ten years” and though the report is vague on exactly which patents have been agreed on, it could include “many standard essential patents” used across Apple’s technology, from iPhones and MacBooks to iPads and Appl Watches.
The two companies have signed cross-licensing agreements in the past, but now that LG has exited the smartphone game, these are no longer required. Nokia, too, has entered similar agreements since it removed itself from the smartphone business.
Right now, LG Electronics supplies camera modules and displays to Apple through its subsidiaries companies LG Innotek and LG Display. It’s thought that LG Display will supply OLED display panels for the upcoming iPhone 14 range, set to be announced in the coming weeks.
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