Qualcomm nabs Huawei deal, hints at 5G iPhone delayQualcomm nabs Huawei deal, hints at 5G iPhone delay

Qualcomm reported that it reached an agreement with Huawei over patent licensing, which netted the silicon vendor an immediate $1.8 billion in payments from the Chinese company. The news sent Qualcomm's shares up during after-hours trading as much as 12% as of 7:11 PM.

However, as noted by Cnet, the company hinted that a "flagship" 5G device might be delayed, which would affect its revenues. That's likely a reference to Apple's widely expected 5G-capable iPhone; Qualcomm last year replaced Intel as the 5G silicon vendor for the iPhone maker.

The news capped the release of Qualcomm's quarterly results, which were slightly better than Wall Street had expected. As CNBC noted, Qualcomm reported $4.89 billion in revenues versus expectations of $4.8 billion.

On Huawei, Qualcomm said it reached a settlement agreement and a new "long-term, global patent license agreement" with the Chinese vendor, which Qualcomm said includes a cross-license granting back rights to "certain of Huawei's patents, covering sales beginning January 1, 2020."

The agreement removes a cloud over Qualcomm as it had been fighting Huawei over the patent licenses. The company said it has now signed more than 100 5G patent license agreements, including with all of the market's major players.

As for Apple, Qualcomm warned 5G handset shipments would be 15% lower year over year in its upcoming quarter, partly due to the delay of an unnamed "global 5G flagship phone launch." However, the company said it still expects between 175 million and 225 million 5G handsets to be shipped in 2020.

Qualcomm remains the top supplier of silicon for smartphones, including 5G phones.

— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano