Yu Chengdong: not to pay for patents

“Many of our Chinese peers do not pay any patent licensing fee to patent holders except Qualcomm. This market is unfair. It is unfair for Huawei’s devices as well. ” Yu Chengdong, director of Huawei’s handset division, has said.

On December 16, Huawei released its latest flagship smartphone, Honor 6 Plus. The price of the standard version is 1999 yuan ($323), while a premium version that supports both two types of 4G networks in China is priced at 2499 yuan ($403).

In response to Qihoo 360’s investment in Coolpad, the third-largest smartphone company in China, Yu said he would not comment on rivals’ development. However, he admitted Huawei had had a good relationship with Qihoo 360 before but that did not lead to partnership due to different understandings of “internet thinking” on both sides.

While Xiaomi encountered a patent infringement lawsuit raised by Ericsson in India, Yu Chengdong emphasised how many patents Huawei owned:

“Huawei owns thousands of patents as well as patents that are cross licensed. Each year the money we pay for others’ patents outnumbers the average in the industry. However, many of our Chinese peers do not pay any patent licensing fee to patent holders except Qualcomm. This market is unfair. It is unfair for Huawei’s devices as well. ”

Huawei spends $1bn on research and development as well as paying various licensing fees of intellectual property, according to its figures.

Last week, an Indian court banned Xiaomi’s sales of smartphones in the country, because of infringements of Ericsson’s patents. Yet on December 16, the ban was temporarily lifted until a hearing due on February 5. Until then, Xiaomi is allowed to sell its products in India, so long as its handsets contain only microchips manufactured by Qualcomm.

Yu Chengdong has been working for Huawei for over two decades. He is known inside the company to be outspoken. In an interview in February, he said Huawei’s smartphones had no rival in the country and their aim was to surpass Samsung and become the second largest smartphone maker in the world in three years’ time.

“Xiaomi is out of Huawei’s league. We consider only Apple and Samsung our rivals.” Yu said.

“In the past, it was we were learning from Apple and Samsung. Now it is time they learnt from us.”

Xiaomi was founded by Lei Jun in 2010 and released its first smartphone in 2011. It is considered the third-largest smartphone maker in the world.