Huawei and Xiaomi once again lock horns over a new patent dispute

In the past, Huawei and Xiaomi have entered into several patent disputes but once again, these two companies locked horns in a new patent dispute.

Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO, Yu Chengdong recently called out patent theft in the domestic smartphone industry. At this time, Yu mentioned a dual-rotation water drop hinge used in a foldable smartphone.

He said, “The water drop hinge directly becomes the keel hinge and the keel does not exist” (translated from Chinese).

The keel hinge is all we know that is used as a Chinese interpretation of the hinge used in the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 smartphone. However, Yu Chengdong didn’t mention any specific name in his remarks.

Following this statement, Xiaomi officially responded to Yu Chengdong saying “We urge Yu to follow ‘basic scientific and rigorous standards’ and stop unfairly criticism of competitors or misleading the public in the future”.

The statement from Xiaomi also compared its own patent with Huawei’s patent, claiming additional parts of technology in its design.

A related analyst from the industry said that companies such as Xiaomi should conduct thorough research before launching their products. That’s how it can prevent infringing other’s patent rights.

Additionally, some experts said that the identification of patent infringement involves the comparison of products and patents, rather than the comparison of only patents.

In the Q3 of 2023, the foldable phone market recorded steady growth in China and continues to move upwards. In this quarter, 1.96 million units shipped with a year-on-year increase of 90.4 percent.

Huawei is the first smartphone maker among Chinese companies to launch foldable devices in the world. The company is currently selling different types of foldable designs in the market.

Earlier this year, Huawei and Xiaomi entered a patent dispute, which led these two tech giants to a domestic court.

The matter was related to the infringement of four patents including 4G/LTE, camera feature, and smartphone technology. Currently, Huawei and Xiaomi have shown no sign of taking this new foldable hinge dispute to the court.