Realme, follows OPPO and vivo, to exit German market after run-in with Nokia

The lucrative German smartphone market is now even more under Nokia's sway as Realme exits.

Realme has confirmed its exit from the German smartphone market (Realme)

In a recent statement by Realme, the Chinese company confirmed its exit from the German smartphone market and restricted all business there, NextPit reported. Realme cited "sales slowdown" as the cause for the company's impending departure from the German market and it closely aligns with the path taken by other brands vivo and OPPO.

Now, Nokia has clear sway over the German market with 3 major smartphone makers Oppo, vivo, and Realme exiting from this market.

OPPO and vivo on Nokia

Vivo's take on not renewing the patent-licensing agreement with Nokia had backfired. Regarding the issue, Nokia took legal action in Germany, resulting in the Mannheim Regional Court declaring Nokia as the only German patent in the lawsuit against vivo.

According to Nokia Power User, Vivo might plan to appeal the court's decision or continue negotiating with Nokia. But for now, it is set to leave the market.

Just like vivo, OPPO suffered a setback at the hands of the Mannheim Regional Court as it took the decision on patents in favor of Nokia and found that the Chinese company was violating Nokia's SEPs which cover 4G and 5G technology.

Following a successful legal battle, OPPO was found to have violated Nokia's SEP Patents. In response, Nokia has also initiated a similar lawsuit against OPPO in Australia and other markets where the infringement happened. Oppo is also facing a similar situation in UK court. Nokia has put the same charges against Oppo in the UK court.

In 2021, Nokia made patent infringement allegations against OPPO, filing complaints in multiple markets across Europe and Asia.

Disagreements apart, Nokia has successfully entered into royalty-bearing licensing agreements with prominent companies such as Lenovo, Samsung, Xiaomi, Apple, LG, and Blackberry.