stop selling
Nokia wins in court: Two smartphone manufacturers surprisingly stop sales in Germany
OnePlus 10 Pro: The flagship is also affected by the sales stop.
© Malte Mansholt / star
The smartphone landscape in Germany is threatened with radical deforestation: With Oppo and Oneplus, two manufacturers are disappearing from the map, Vivo could soon follow.
The Chinese BBK Group sells several smartphone brands in Germany. Including crowd favorites like Oppo, Vivo, Oneplus and Realme. As early as 2017, BBK was the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, right behind Samsung. However, at least the German market is now in danger for BBK, because Nokia managed to stop sales of two brands at the same time – and a decision for the third brand is approaching. The basis for this are disputes about 5G patents: Nokia sees its rights violated and demands license fees.
Oppo shuts down online shop, Oneplus removes devices
On Friday, a Munich court ruled that Oppo and Oneplus cell phones are subject to a sales ban with immediate effect. This means that both companies are not allowed to market or sell their devices. Another lawsuit from Nokia is currently also against the smartphones of the BBK subsidiary Vivo. If the court follows the decision of the Munich colleagues, there is a risk of a marketing and sales stop.
The effect is already noticeable in the market. Devices in third-party online shops are leftovers, and the products have already disappeared from the Oppo and Oneplus websites.
At Oppo, the entire shop was shut down, only one piece of information is intended to reassure customers. The manufacturer writes: “You can continue to use your Oppo products without restrictions, access support and of course you will also receive all future updates.” There is no information about the future of the current and planned products.
Oneplus’ online presence has so far been a bit more extensive, only all smartphones and the Oneplus watch have disappeared from the range, all accessories and headphones remain available.
Wirtschaftswoche fears a smartphone bottleneck
According to the market research company Canalys, the disappearance of both brands will free up around 10 percent of the market in Germany, reports the “Wirtschaftswoche”. The magazine also has a statement from Oppo. It says: “Apart from suspending the sale and marketing of certain products, Oppo will continue to operate in Germany.” The “Wirtschaftswoche” formulated it more drastically and spoke of a withdrawal of the brand from the German market.
Millions are at stake for the BBK Group, and the withdrawal seems to have been carefully calculated. Because for the supposedly missing license, BBK would have to pay 2.50 euros per device – worldwide. This is offset by the one percent drop in total profit that Oppo achieved with sales in Germany. It is not known what the other brands look like.
The “Wirtschaftswoche” warns that the discontinuation of the brands could significantly worsen the prices and availability of other smartphones. According to this, the industry association “Bitkom” expected a tense market anyway due to the persistent shortage of chips, and the exit of the providers mentioned is now pouring more oil into the fire.
Similar procedures threaten Apple and Samsung
The “Wirtschaftswoche” predicts that the decisions against Oppo and Oneplus could only be a start. Apparently, Nokia’s contracts with Apple and Samsung would also expire, which could provide further grounds for legal disputes in the fall.
Ericsson is also currently arguing with Apple. In Colombia, the iPhone group is threatened with a sales ban on 5G-enabled devices, where Apple is currently invoking the UN Human Rights Charter, which protects the right to freedom to participate in economic activity. It is questionable whether the argument will still work when the series of trials in Germany starts in the fall.
source: business week