Another Oppo sister company is leaving this European market

In August 2022,Nokia won a patent dispute case against Oppoand OnePlus, forcing both companies to stop all their advertising efforts in Germany. There were also rumors of thetwo BBK-owned companies exiting the European marketin March this year. Oppo quickly refuted such reports, though it confirmed itsGermany business was on hold. Now, Realme, another BBK firm, is putting its business on hold in the country due to the ongoing patent dispute with Nokia.

In a statement toNextpit, Realme confirmed it would “restrict” its business in Germany. Like OnePlus and Oppo, Realme cannot advertise its product in Germany due to the ongoing patent dispute with Nokia, the Finnish networking giant. This is likely why the company has seen a slowdown in its “business activity” in the region.

While Realme did not say it is exiting the German smartphone market, the move likely means you will not find its newer smartphones on sale across retailers and carrier stores. While Oppo and OnePlus have also restricted their activity in Germany, customers can still buy their products from most retailers.

Realme is hopeful of reaching a settlement with Nokia, but until then it has decided to redirect its resources to other European markets.

If you already own a Realme smartphone and live in Germany, you won’t be affected much. You should get service support, and your phone will receive regular software updates. Interestingly, Realme’s move comes about 10 days after Vivo shut down its operations and removed all mentions of its products from its German website (viaWinFuture). Unlike the former, though, Vivo never officially announced its exit.

Nokia wants to charge a licensing fee per smartphone sold to resolve the patent dispute. However, German laws would require the two parties to enter a worldwide agreement, forcing the BBK-owned firms to pay licensing fees for all devices sold in the international market.

Following Vivo and Realme’s exit, none of the BBK-owned companies now have a presence in one of the largest European smartphone markets. The move should benefit other players, including Samsung, Xiaomi, Honor, and Apple, as they will look to capitalize on Realme’s exit.