If you guys can recall, earlier this year there was a bit of legal drama between Apple and Ericsson. Basically Ericsson claimed that Apple had infringed upon their patent, and Apple said that they didn’t. This has been going on for a while now but it looks like both companies can conclude 2015 on a happy note.
Both Apple and Ericsson have finally agreed on a patent deal. Essentially this puts an end to the lawsuit between both companies, and at the same time it will also see Ericsson earn a bit of money everytime Apple sells an iPhone. Given how many iPhones Apple tends to sell with every release, that’s a lot of money Ericsson potentially could get.
Naturally the details of the agreement were not revealed, but it seems to be rather substantial. According to Reuters, they have estimated that Ericsson’s licensing revenue is around $1.5-1.6 billion this year, up from $1.2 billion from last year. Presumably the jump probably has to do with Apple paying Ericsson a lump-sum payment for a start before paying royalties in the future.
That being said, it seems that despite the lawsuit and a lot of money going out of Apple’s coffers, both companies are still on good terms with each other. Both companies are expected to collaborate on 5G technologies in the future so we guess it makes sense that they’d try and get along.