Technology brands Nokia and Apple have signed an updated long-term patent cross-license agreement to replace the existing license agreement signed in 2017. The previous agreement is valid at the end of 2023. Nokia made the announcement and said the new deal will cover Nokia’s 5G Inventions and other key patents.

While the finer details of the new licensing agreement are sketchy, Nokia said it will receive payments from Apple over a multi-year period starting January 2024. The financial implications of the deal have already been taken into account in the company’s current financial forecast.

Nokia said it is pleased to sign a long-term patent license agreement with Apple on a friendly basis. The Finnish company says the deal reflects the strength of Nokia’s patent portfolio and decades of investment in research and development. It also highlights Nokia’s contribution to the development of cellular standards and other technologies over the years.

Nokia has a long tradition of major investments in research and development, which began in 2000 and amounted to more than €140 billion (US$ billion). These investments provided a huge treasury of 20,000 patent families. Nokia is currently the leading brand in terms of 5G-related patents, with 5,500.

Apple hopes to use the excellent technological possibilities of patents in its future products. These technologies will be deployed on all Apple devices that require 5G and other patent approvals from Nokia for their distribution and use in devices.